After travelling home from seeing Justin Bieber in Manchester the previous night (yes, it took me 6 hours to get home too), I had already booked to see Josh Widdicombe live in Cardiff. Luckily, I didn’t have far to travel this time, only about half hour from home which I was grateful for.
For those who have somehow escaped not seeing Josh on your TV, he has had an incredibly busy year, with appearances on Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week and The Last Leg. He’s even got his own sitcom Josh, on BBC 3 which is hilarious, you should check it out.
Supporting him on the tour was Eton-educated Ivo Graham. Graham spoke of awkward family holidays to France with his parents aged 25 and the excitement of his new relationship despite being a ‘late starter’. I recognised him from an episode of Mock The Week a few weeks ago, mainly due to his Excel spreadsheet joke. He had the audience in stitches and got us all warmed up for the main event.
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Despite things going well for Josh, he’s only human after all, one with feelings. Let’s be honest, we’re never happy unless we are complaining, are we? The theme of this tour comes from his childhood in Dartmoor and things that annoy him from day to day.
Of course, with any comedy show – the people in the front row never escape a bit of a roasting. Although this must have been the least offensive roasting I’ve ever seen. One guy in the front row wore a t-shirt with ‘Cardiff’ written on the front. Josh joked how he must have been put there as a reminder of where he was and asked whether he would tour the country with him, sporting a different t-shirt for each location. This especially became useful after the majority of the crowd cheered to say they actually weren’t from Cardiff, this making Josh question whether he was in the right place.
His act is split in two parts, the first following straight after his support. This mainly spoke of ranted about modern life. The relatable experiences of contactless payments to his fear of flying, this resulting in him having to travel by sleeper train. His act doesn’t seem rehearsed at all, it felt like he was just having a chat with everyone like you would with your mates.
The second half spoke of his childhood in Dartmoor and his struggles of having a ‘cabin bed’ – you know, those beds with a desk under it, to carry out the ‘essential admin work of a ten-year-old’. Speaking about how his agent had allegedly advertised the show as being suited for those 16 and above, one member of the audience revealed he was only 15. Revealing that he had been born in 2001 (as the audience gasped and immediately felt ancient), Josh tried to draw comparisons with the younger audience member. The fact that this 15-year-old hadn’t even witnessed the Millennium was quite funny. Oh yeah, and how he didn’t know what a Filofax was, but as Josh tried to summarise – it’s an iPhone calendar but printed out and put into a ring binder.
I hadn’t seen any of Josh’s stand up before, so wasn’t sure what to expect. I loved every minute of it and laughed out loud on numerous occasions (if not all). For those who don’t like to see offensive sweary comedians, then you really need to see Josh live. Apparently, his show in Liverpool has tickets left, so if anybody is reading this from around that area, do not miss him. So as you read this and think ‘What Do I Do Now?’ – you go and buy tickets for his show, that’s what! You can find the rest of his tour dates here. But hurry, before tickets disappear.
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