Last night saw the launch of Howlin' Comedy Club's residency at the New Wimbledon Theatre Studio. The club, founded by the hilarious comedian Kev Orkian, stages shows featuring top class comedians and has played at various venues around London including The Troxy, The Maltings Art Centre & Theatre in St Albans, the Old Bull Arts Centre in Barnet and more. I think its safe to say that Wimbledon was thrilled to be added to Howlin's list!
With a packed out audience, a great little room and top quality acts the laughs never stopped right from the word go! The fun packed evening included, amongst other things, a card trick featuring an invisible deck, an insight into Armenian music and its history, an onstage verbal battle with Siri of iPhone 4 fame and an unrepeatable new use for 'Learn Your Alphabet' toys from Mothercare. All of the comedians were great at bantering with the audience and made sure there were plenty of opportunities for them to chat, shout out and even get involved in the fun onstage!
The Compere, Miles Crawford, is a bouncy, likeable comedian with a fantastic 'showbusiness voice' (as he himself puts it!) which provided fantastic introductions for all the other comics. The audience warmed to him immediately, lighting up every time he came back on stage with his great big smile and infectiously upbeat attitude. These qualities, combined with an unexpected and fun little rap delivered with a cheeky grin, made Miles true entertainer material.
The next two acts Phil Butler and John Moloney were exact opposites of each other. Phil was outrageous from the start, wandering on to music while contorting his face in all kinds of peculiar ways he immediately garnered laughs from the audience. He continued to use his strangely malleable face to great effect throughout his act, treating us to his attempts at Ventriloquism and his varied reactions to an assault on his talent by none other than his iPhone. Phil was high octane energy from start to end and it seemed the audience loved his playful doctoring of multiple types of technology as much as he loved doing it. John, on the other hand, provided us with a refreshing change of pace. His slow, measured style of storytelling -mostly aimed at his relationship with his cat Edward- set up his punchlines beautifully and kept the audience engaged from start to end. He revved up the pace a little towards the end with a series of one liners but it was really his unique conversational style that shone out.
Closing the show was none other than the club's founder Kev Orkian. An experienced performer, Kev absolutely stole the show with his unique blend of character and musical comedy. His stories of life as an Armenian immigrant performer in the UK with all its trials and tribulations: both professional and personal (cue an unmissable love song plus a hilarious attempt at chatting up a girl 'Essex Style') kept the audience gasping for breath through their roars of laughter. He might be a comedian but he's also fabulous at the piano and his rendition of a scratched CD version of Elton John's I'm Still Standing is not to be missed while his Boogie Woogie was the perfect upbeat end to a fun night.
Howlin's shows are the last Monday of every month. Thee next one will be on Monday 30th April at 7.30pm and features Kerry Godliman, Kevin McCarthy and more... http://www.atgtickets.com/Howlin-Comedy-Club-Tickets/8/2196/
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