Nicola Houghton is from the North (Radcliffe to be precise) but now lives in London with her husband and three children and her show is about the differences between those two places and various class issues. (She appears mortified that her three children like olives!)
I instantly liked Nicola, she is very personable, warm and engaging.
The audience was sadly rather small tonight (thirteen of us) and we were in a quite a small room. Nicola used a hand held microphone which I think she could have managed without and at times the volume level was a little harsh on the ears.
Her material is all taken from her life and reality humour is always a winner because everyone can relate to it. Some of her tales from her childhood were particularly funny and I think struck a chord with all of us. She delivers the humour with good intonation and facial expressions.
I did feel that tonight she was nervous. There were many times when I suspect she was struggling to remember what came next and I really felt for her. She gained thinking time by repeating some things in a rather flustered manner and unfortunately this had the effect of making me feel nervous and uncomfortable for her. I think all of us were willing her on. Towards the end of the set, she resorted to using her notebook as a prompt. Possibly playing to a small crowd is more challenging (or maybe I was a jinx as she informed me that she didn’t know she was being reviewed!)
Some of the material could do with being tighter so that the comedy is more fluid. One or two sections seemed to ramble slightly and I felt they didn’t quite hit the mark and the humour was a bit lost. I would have liked to hear more about the differences between the North and the South, particularly as she was in Manchester and we Northerners do like to hear the South take a bit of a bashing!
However, when the funny lines come, they are really funny, I laughed out loud quite a lot, as did the rest of the audience.
She did make references throughout her show to points that she’d mentioned earlier and I liked that consistency and it tied in well.
What I thought was refreshing is that she didn’t swear once – not that I’m a prude by any means but it can become quite tedious when comedians feel that all they have to do is stick a few swear words in as a replacement for humour.
She rounded off the show very neatly, with the audience laughing.
I suspect that tonight was the first public performance of ‘It’s All Gravy’ which is perhaps why there were a few issues. It certainly has a lot of promise and with a bit of honing and fine tuning, will be a very funny and entertaining show.
Incidentally, two points I learned tonight and that you should remember next time you go to London: if you are asking for mushy peas or gravy, refer to them as ‘jus of pea’ and ‘hipster relish’ or they won’t know what you’re asking for!
‘It’s All Gravy’ is on at Lock 91 on 11th July at 7.30 pm. https://manchesterfringe.eventotron.com/?event=37019
Reviewer: Nicky Lambert
Reviewed: 4th July 2019
North West End Rating: ★★★
