Utterly brilliaaant!
I guess you had to be there. But many were. Martin White and Danielle Ward's Karaoke Circus came to the legendary 100 Club on London's busy Oxford Street last night. For those not acquainted with the franchise, this is an all-star karaoke evening with live band - Martin, Danielle, David Reed, Foz Foster. This riotous, good-natured conveyor belt of song, on which assorted comics and performers test the very limits of their vocal abilities in the name of unpretentious musical entertainment, also allows members of the audience to try their hand too, and the whole thing is judged, Britain's Got Talent-style, by the cruel-but-fair Dan Maier (TV Burp) and The Baron (catchphrase: "utterly brilliaaant!"); and only two clowns are involved. Usually to be found in the club-like subterranean confines of the Albany on Great Portland Street, or in festival tents, the Circus went up two gears last night: a much bigger venue, plus a full orchestra (arranged and conducted by Martin, who really is a dynamo), and, on acoustic for Rock'n'Roll Suicide, Mikey from David Devant & His Spirit Wife. (There are Devant threads running through the whole operation, actually. And I went to art school with him, too.)Thus were we treated to the likes of actor Kevin Eldon belting out Elbow's One Day Like This, poet John Hegley scat-singing Sunny Side Of The Street, Bridget Christie actually dressed as Kate Bush for Wuthering Heights, Isy Suttie (Peep Show) giving it loads to Piano Man, the Penny Dreadfuls gamely attacking Under Pressure, Waen Shepherd (most recently scene as the paedophile teacher in The Inbetweeners) taking the roof off with the aforementioned Rock'n'Roll Suicide, Miles Jupp being drowned out by the audience for Come On Eileen, and utterly brilliaaant, or certainly brave renditions of Nobody Does It Better, Sabotage and Living On A Prayer. And, yes, me, doing the theme from The Wire aka Tom Waits' Way Down In The Hole, for which I borrowed Foz's trilby and wore a pretend "soul tooth" beard under my lip, which fell off, theatrically, before the third verse, where I forgot the lines, "and they'll protect you with their wings/and keep you close to the Lord", but hardly anybody noticed and even less cared. No, it wasn't recorded, unless somebody was bootlegging the evening, so you'll just have to imagine it, and look at Paul Bailey's nice pictures, the full set of which can be found here.
Which means I have been onstage at the 100 Club, with a clown playing a saw behind me. What a ridiculous life. (A special tip of the hat to bassoonist Caroline Mabey and saxophonist Arec Koundarjian, who accompanied me as Tom Waits.)
posted by Andrew Collins @ 8:27 AM
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15 Comments:
"the Penny Dreadfuls attempting Under Pressure" Ha! Damned with faint praise, Andrew.
A wonderful blog, thank you.
What ever happened to David Devant And His Spirit Wife? Their live stage show was incredible.
I'd just like to point out that's about half of photos. The other half will go up this evening, after work. I took a lot, but most of them are rubbish so it takes time to plough through them.
And it really was an outstanding evening!
It wasn't meant to come out like that, Anna! I have changed it to "gamely attacking"!
Cheers for Tweeting this Andrew: I had a phenomenally good time. On paper it doesn't look all that exciting but something about the live orchestra, clowns and clowning made the ensuing exuberance totally compelling. Apologies if the attempted hearty thanks I slapped you with at the end came out all dribbled and incomprehensible by the way: I was having to buy twice as many drinks every time I went to the bar because I only had a credit card on me and hence was slightly more inebriated than was strictly sensible.
Get that Smiths karaoke night on and I'll get so excited, I might even bring cash.
Marcus
Yes, Andrew, sort out this Smiths/Moz karaoke night!
I know Arec - what a lovely bloke he is!
This sounded tremendous, but I am not sure you should keep being lured on stage. Who'll review the films for the Radio Timesif you keep talking about the Mitford Sisters or being Tom Waits
You seem to be doing a very good impression of his performance from Big Time - did you so the "Jesus is around for the little things too" monologue? :)
I did do his, "Can I get an Amen? Can I get a Halleluyah?" bit, Martin.
You started it Robin, you are my Larry Parnes.
It was a super night, and I felt really joyful all the way through. Best Karaoke Circus ever! I also very much enjoyed your Tom Waits impression--the song you did is one of my favorites.
Ha, I know you didn't mean it like that, but 'gamely attacking' is certainly appropriate :)
The rest of the (non-Collings) photos I took are now up on Flickr. When I say the rest, they'll probably be more again tomorrow.
That looks brilliant! I was such a huge David Devant fan. There weren't many of us. Wish I could have been there...
It was a GREAT night! Rocking! Just noticed i've a face for Radio. I'm the little lady that sung 'Nothing compares to You'. There are no pictures...no proof.. Was my performance just a dream??? Dreamt in the toilets of the 100 club after 4 pints of cider... a sweet dream that I won't forget! ROCK!!!! Foz gets my vote:0)) Wanda
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