Like listening to an old friend reminisce
REGINALD D Hunter turned 50 recently and, as he informs a packed crowd at The Y Theatre, a lot has changed since he started stand-up in the UK 20 years ago.
From panel shows to The Apollo via BBC3’s Reg Explains, he’s done it all.
On Thursday night, he performed his show Facing the Beast for the last time; a show which invites us to look back on the journey and the lessons learned with Hunter’s trademark vibrancy of character, sharp observations and endearing warmth.
After a typically informal introduction the show began.
Reg, suffering with a “24-hour flu”, managed to maintain impressive energy levels as he performed what I’d describe as a great family show.
This is not a family show in the usual entertainment industry vernacular – Facing the Beast couldn’t be broadcast pre-watershed on a Saturday night.
However, it is a show ostensibly about family. As I said, Reg recently turned 50, made contact and built a relationship with his estranged 18-year-old daughter and his father turned 100.
The audience is invited in to the most intimate, absurd and ultimately relatable family moments; from his daughter dealing with his social media controversy to his experience of settling down into a long-term relationship, consistently supplemented and supported by his elderly father’s questionable advice on love, life and economics (credit where it’s due, his “nut theory” of global economics is at least metaphorically sound).
Whether or not you’ve seen Reg before, you’ll leave feeling like you know these people. In that way, it’s a family show.
Facing The Beast was a really enjoyable night in the company of a man whose personality and charm makes you quickly forget that while you’re in an audience of hundreds, you feel as though you’ve been invited to the home of an old friend as he reminisces on a changed world and imparts what he has learned.
Reg promised he’ll be back in Leicester next year “with new jokes and a little less fat”.
When he is, make sure you go and see him.
STEVE Vertigo’s Murmuration: Word on the Tweet will be performed tomorrow and February 16, at 2pm, at The Cookie.
He described it as: “Something beautiful is broken. Rumour and disinformation is on the wing.
“Disheartened with society, a man takes solace in the beauty of nature, and finds a joyous escape.
“However, it’s not long before this escape is threatened by the very evils he was trying to flee.
“He must shape up if he is to help his new found feathered-friends survive.”
“Murmuration is a sharp, avian adventure that’s been developed over 18 months, and deals with divided society and how we find our place and role in it.
“It does that in quite a roundabout route but along the way touches on quantum theory, big data, AI, tech, love and 38,000 starlings.”