Guildford’s favourite monthly comedy club, Kick Back Comedy returned on Saturday night (August 9) with a shiny new line-up and a new residence. Kick Back Comedy had previously been staged at The Back Room of The Star Inn earlier on in the year, but has now converted over to the ever-popular Boileroom for its future shows.
This month saw resident MC, Debra-Jane Appelby compere the show including a line-up of mischievous, Irish comic Paddy Lennox, the cheeky and charming Lara A King and headline, wide boy act, Nick Wilty. The sell-out show was packed full of excitement and laughs and certainly kept the raucous crowd entertained, despite running over by about half an hour. There were certainly no complaints as the audience got their money’s worth and had a thoroughly enjoyable night.
Debra-Jane Appelby brought her usual brash, Yorkshire wit onto the stage with an energy and venom that kept everyone on the edge of their seats. No one from the youngsters at the front, to Alex with his tight, red chinos and bottle of Pinot, to big Dave on his 26th birthday and his largered up mates at the back were safe from the onslaught that Debra handed out with masterful application.
First up on stage of the featured acts was the warm and witty Paddy Lennox who immediately had the crowd going with his soft Irish accent and obvious confidence. Paddy has played in South Africa, Germany, Ireland, Croatia, Estonia, Malta and Slovenia, whilst also recently supporting headline acts Rhod Gilbert, Lucy Porter and Micky Flannagan. Talking about everyday things like children is always a good starting point and Paddy ended particularly strongly when advising everyone in the audience to buy their kids a box of matches and watch their faces light up.
Lara A King slipped onto the stage and wooed the crowd with her chatty demeanour that had everyone chuckling and feeling at ease, despite her opening line suggesting she was looking for a new label other than ‘confrontational, hard-drinking lesbian’. Her smiley manner and slow tongue softened the blows of the job centre, alcoholism and topping up your petrol to exactly a round figure. Lara had excellent presence and although her set didn’t break any boundaries of comedy, it had the whole crowd laughing, which is all you can ask!
And finally on stage was cocky, Freddie Starr lookalike, Nick Wilty (pictured above), who immediately admitted that it wasn’t a good time to resemble the infamous British comedian. Nick’s act took the audience on a journey through snippets of his life, remembering ex-girlfriends, his leopard-print wedding and how he met his wife at Glastonbury Festival; infusing subtle comedy with obvious one-liners. It’s easy to take Nick for just a bit of a lad with a lot to say, but his humour had a depth and sharpness to it that can only be garnered with experience in the business.
If you would like to see Kick Back Comedy in the future, then head down to The Boileroom to catch some great comedians that have worked the London circuit and performed at the likes of Jongleurs and The Comedy Store. Tickets are £12 per person (£10 for those cheeky students) and can be purchased HERE. Be warned, this is not a family-friendly show, expect insults and profanities and hence, it is strictly over 18s only for each performance.
James Martin