Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
ACCORDING to legendary comic Charlie Chaplin, a day without laughter is a day wasted. Luckily, the capacity crowd at the Brit Club made the most of their day … with a little help from the Chuckle Club and its line-up of hilarious professional joke slingers.
The show took place over two nights in two locations, one at the British Club Bahrain and the other at the InterContinental Regency hotel.
First on stage was Mark Smith, a young man with a cheeky outlook on life. He started strong by interacting with the crowd and was having so much fun doing it that he almost forgot he had pre-planned material.
Some of his fnest gags came from picking on a swimming instructor in the front row called Josh. His set culminated with Josh reading his own eulogy, a well-written piece of comedic gold.
For me, his fantastic facial expressions and occasional failing limbs where what made the gags resonate for longer.
Next up was the irreverent Katherine Ryan, a British-based Canadian with an abnormal amount of love for Destiny’s Child: Beyonce, Kelly and … ‘the other one’. She gyrated her way through her set, which included some astoundingly amusing prose about the joys of motherhood, most notably when your child learns your name.
She had a great take on British youth or, ‘yoof’, as she put it. It made me very glad that I live in Bahrain and, as a result, I’ve yet to see a single yoof wearing a hoodie and standing menacingly on a corner here in the kingdom.
The fnal act of the evening was Carl Donnelly, a guy with big hair and even bigger punch lines. His set started strong with some jokes about disgraced British celebrities that, unfortunately, can’t be repeated in a family newspaper.
The Editor is still recovering from the Gary Glitter episode as they went to the same school and is in a state of stunned denial over the latest crop of 60s and 70s celebrities facing the long arm of the law.
Donnelly has a knack for storytelling and he painted an intricate picture with his words while describing his girlfriend’s fear of birds and being confronted by an emu on a recent trip to Australia.
In my opinion, this was one of Punchline’s fnest shows to date, great line-up, great venue and great fun.
