Alan Davies, Leotards and Wurples

Alan Davies (born 6 March 1966)

Around 1994/95 I ventured into to a dark and somewhat dingy comedy club in an upstairs room above a pub in Highgate (the name of the pub escapes me but I think it was on a corner somewhere past the Highgate Bridge), the Club was quite aptly named “Nice Little Earner” (luckily I can at least remember the club name else this paragraph would end up being “some vague time ago, in a pub, somewhere I can’t remember, ah feck I forgotten, where’s my specs?”, I should really consult with my friend who could probably tell me the exact date, time and position of the moon at the time in question, but I can’t be arsed). ANYWAY..the club was being run by some friends of friends of mine (once removed) and I went along almost as a favor.

At that point in time I wasn’t a frequent punter at comedy nights, in all honesty, the closest I’d been to live comedy was some dire panto-esque pun-filled amateur performances my dad and his mate would insist on holding at reluctant friends weddings. I recall being traumatized as a child as I was dressed up as a houseplant to be a human punchline for a sketch; as my Dad drove a cardboard cutout of a car and his friend yelled “STOP! There’s a heavy plant crossing” cue me (in a lurid green leotard with roughly sewn on felt leaves, not my best look it has to be said), and cue groans of pain from the guests, needless to say I never recovered from the emotional scars it left me with.

Random tangents aside, “Nice Little Earner”, had 3 acts on that particular night, none of hich I’d heard of but I had few preconceptions as it was my first time at a comedy club. The acts that rolled out were engaging and very amusing, so “Nice Little Earner” soon became “Nice Little Night Out”. The first act was a rather spikey blonde with bright red lipstick and I’m pretty damn sure it was none other than Jenny Éclair, she singled me out at one point and made a comment relating to my date who was a rather aging hippy, so yes , I was asking for it.

The 2nd act that came on seemed either pissed or stoned…..or possibly both, he wobbled on to the stage and launched into what was an incredibly funny and surreal set, Sadly I recall little of it (as you already have realised my memory is virtually non-existent plus I have a distinct feeling that I may have been as equally inebriated in a similar fashion as he was) but I vaguely remember him making some amusing comments about the pub decor and at one point tried to climb a curtain on the stage and I’m fairly sure he made some references to his cat. I was in stitches. I never saw the comedian again until a few years later, on my TV screen. It was none other than Alan Davies.

Alan certainly is an accomplished stand up comedian but personally I feel he seems to be in his absolute element on comedy quiz shows and the like, QI being the Pièce de résistance. I cannot for the life of me imagine any other comedian blurting out (and getting roars of laughter for) “curple, durple, hurple, wurple” in a response to a poser of what rhymes with purple, the man is most definitely in touch with his inner child, and quite probably permanently so.

The comedic chemistry between Stephen Fry and Alan is stunning, almost poetic in a Shakespearian tragedy kinda way but a shed load funnier. Alongside Mr Fry’s innate intellect he plays the fool so convincingly that at times you believe he is actually daft as a brush, but don’t be fooled, to be that silly takes talent and I won’t have a word said against him (unless it gets a laugh of course)

I do cherish the fact that I saw him way back when, and he was just as hilarious then as he is now, that’s not to say that he hasn’t improved, just that he has always been very very funny, many comedians struggle to get to that level but Mr Davies is quite frankly a natural.

Look I wrote all that without a single reference to perms….oops.

Alan is on Twitter
http://twitter.com/alandavies1

Alan has his own Youtube account
http://www.youtube.com/notaperm