Kevin Eldon and His Very Funny Friends, British Summer Time Festival, Hyde Park - comedy review

Kevin Eldon hosted a varied showcase which was a reminder that live, innovative comedy is in positively rude health
10 July 2013

On my way to Hyde Park l caught a report saying “Eldon cancels due to illness”. In fact I had misheard and it was Elton John who was cancelling Friday’s appearance here due to appendicitis. Kevin Eldon, by contrast, was fighting fit and hosted this varied showcase which was a reminder that live, innovative comedy is in positively rude health.

Eldon, fresh from his first BBC2 series, opened in this small pop-up theatre with a cake-based song inspired by the recent Rolling Stones revival, I Know, it’s Only Swiss Roll, but I Like it, before introducing the excellent Robin Ince. The science obsessive’s commitment to geekiness was so strong he insisted on wearing a cardigan in the tropical heat as he gushed about Darwin, Brian Blessed and same-sex marriages, which will not, he pointed out, be compulsory. Ince spoke frantically as if he had an urgent appointment elsewhere. It turned out he did – he was due at a Bloomsbury Theatre benefit.

Spoof children’s entertainer Jeremy Lion (towering actor Justin Edwards) was more leisurely. His burping bemused newcomers to his act until he started producing Special Brew cans from his case to deliver his boozy adult version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. “Three Beers” might have been more accurate, as he downed the contents of the cans along with various spirits. This could have been a 1950s music hall act, yet felt strangely contemporary.

After the interval playfully livid feminist Bridget Christie delivered a tantalising excerpt from her forthcoming Edinburgh show which will be reviewed fully next month. The large bill meant that Kevin Eldon’s stage time was limited but his character-based snippets were terrific. A highlight was his earnest poet Paul Hamilton on Mao Tse Tung: “Chairman, you weren’t a fair man.”

Final guest Paul Foot’s punchline-free jokes about van-spotting were not to all tastes, but his perseverance was impressive. In fact he might have stayed on longer but as he reached his allotted time a clock-watcher backstage started gesturing. “That was a strange and unsettling ending to a nice evening,” said Foot as he scuttled off. A strange end certainly, but the evening was much more than merely nice.

The British Summer Time Comedy Festival runs until Thu Jul 11 (08448 240300, bst-hydepark.com)

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