MOCK the Week and Have I Got News For You must both be taking breaks from filming as yet another esteemed BBC comedy panelist is on tour.
Huddersfield's Lawrence Batley Theatre has already been graced by fellow TV stars Mark Watson, Rich Hall and Stewart Lee this year, and now Andy Parsons has been in town.
It missed out on Frankie Boyle but you can’t have everything.
Parsons was not so well known before his regular slots on Mock The Week and BBC2’s QI but he is an experienced stand up and comedy writer of shows from the 80s and 90s such as Spitting Image, The Lenny Henry Show and Smith and Jones.
It’s clear from the start that there’s not going to be anything too gimmicky in Parsons’ routine as he spends the first 15 minutes with the tried and tested take the you know what out of the unfortunate guests on the front row.
It took Parsons a while to break out the big guns and get the real deep belly laughs out of the almost full theatre – but once he got into his stride people were nearly rolling round the aisles.
It’s obvious that he’s a man who likes to keep up with current affairs and several times I felt as though I was getting a satirical summary of the last five-years worth of domestic and international news.
Not a bad thing but you’ll get nothing radical here, just jokes about the ironies and idiosyncrasies of life.
All the usual targets were put under scrutiny – politicians, global corporations, teachers, religion, and of course Americans got their dues.
If you’re a fan of point and mock observational comedy then Parsons is definitely another name to add to the must-see list of BBC panellists on gravy train tours around the UK.
