The other day I booked a couple of tickets for the Lyric comedy night in Hammersmith. I have been a couple of times now and seen people like Al Murray and Stewart Lee there and it is always a good, full evening of comedy at a reasonable price. It is also good to get back to the Lyric so I can be wistful about my time operating follow spots there for a youth theatre production in the 80s.
This time round there was a ‘secret TV star’ on the bill. I think the last time there was a surprise act it turned out to be Daara O’Brien so the Lyric is not in the habit of over-hyping it. The surprise guest this time was described as somebody who used to do stand-up but moved to doing a lot of TV work and is now preparing to go back to stand-up again.
When I booked I will admit that I was secretly hoping it would turn out to be Phill Jupitus. His old stand-up routines about the elephants in the zoo and about spiders have me creased up every time I see them and he fits the description. I was trying to think of other people who might be described as current TV people who are ex-stand-up comedians and my mind went a little blank: Sean Hughes? Mark Lamarr?  Don’t see them on TV much these days. Vic Reeves? Never was strictly stand-up – more chaotic cabaret. Ben Elton? More writer then TV person now. Ardal O’Hanlon? Never really gave up the comedy as far as I know.
Today David Baddiel let the cat out of the bag and tweeted that he would be appearing on Sunday at the Lyric.
Interesting.
Now I can start speculating about October’s mystery guest will be. The host, Richard Herring, describes him as one of his all-time favourite acts who is preparing for some stadium shows. I think it’s a safe bet it will not be Peter Kay. Izzard?
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