If Carl Hutchinson thought he was facing an uphill struggle when he saw the size of the (admittedly diminutive) audience at Eden Court, then congratulations Carl, welcome to the Highlands, you’ve bagged yourself a metaphorical Munro.
Starting with a promise that the low turnout would not impact his effort to entertain, Hutchinson embarked on what would prove to be an engagingly intimate and ultimately enjoyable performance for those of us lucky enough to be there.
Covering everything from the struggles of selling on Facebook marketplace, to the pitfalls of half-term parenting, Carl’s Today Year’s Old set itself was consistently chuckleworthy.
Comedy gold and a meta moment
Add to this some unexpected nuggets of comedy gold provided by a malfunctioning mic and a real meta moment during a skit about being a member of a small audience, and the overall experience was eminently repeatable.
If Carl has not been put off by Inverness’s lamentable lack of enthusiasm for his art on this occasion, then I, for one, will be back to see him next time he tours into town.
The seasoned stand-up also dealt admirably, and generously, with repeated offputting interruptions from increasingly over-enthusiastic audience members.
(If you’re ever seated close to the stage for stand-up, please try and remember the rest of us got tickets to watch the guy whose name is on the posters – not listen to your escaping inner monologue. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.)
The only head-scratching moment for me came when Carl launched into a tale that referenced supermarkets closing at 4pm on a Sunday – something a quick post-show Google confirmed is definitely ‘a thing’ south of the border. Every day’s a school day, eh?
Support for the show was provided by Scots stand-up Mick McNeill, hailed as a ‘rising star of Scottish comedy’.
‘Intelligently self-aware set’
Mick’s dead-pan delivery went down well in the One Touch theatre, leaving the audience suitably excited for the main man, whose intelligently self-aware set succeeded admirably in keeping that energy up all evening.
In short – if you thought about coming to Carl’s show and, for whatever reason, didn’t, you missed out on a fun night at Eden Court, and that’s your loss.
But don’t fret – because Carl is headed to The Lemon Tree in Aberdeen on Sunday night and, if you hurry, you could catch him there.
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