The inaugural Greenwich Comedy Festival claims to be London’s biggest comedy festival and while that is a bold claim the line-up is certainly impressive.
Between now and Sunday, Jo Brand, Russell Howard, Ardal O’Hanlon and Tommy Tiernan will be assisting the organisers in their aim to put Greenwich on the map. Although, as Robert Newman wryly noted last night, the Meridian line has already been good at doing that.
Newman temporarily lost the use of his right foot over the summer, so he was grateful just to be standing up, never mind doing stand-up. Despite not having gigged recently, he was in good spirits, relaxed and chatty and mixing acutely observed impressions and accents with worthy-yet-witty geo-political analysis of Afghanistan, Iran and his ongoing bugbear, the perennial thirst for ever-decreasing energy supplies. For the performer who, with David Baddiel, surfed the early Nineties comedy-as-rock-and-roll wave, this was more comedy-as-protest-singer.
Resembling a latterday Woody Guthrie in his hat and baggy jacket, Newman quickly got into the nitty gritty of explaining how the First World War was all about access to oil. Do not be fooled into thinking the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the cause. "No one’s that popular," he deadpanned.
Things jumped around, with songs and a mock-epic poem about pub quiz rivalries punctuating the preachiness, and this frequently felt more like a reading list than showbiz, but Newman was constantly interesting.
Maybe not the funniest event Greenwich will host this week, but probably the most thought-provoking. And eerily prophetic. On leaving it transpired that there was a power cut outside. The next energy crisis was even closer than the star predicted.
Greenwich Comedy Festival runs until 13 September. Information: 0844 847 2548 www.
Robert Newman
Greenwich Comedy Festival
