Micro-brewery comedy is a tonic

LARGE breweries may still be functional places of manufacture but their little brothers are now increasingly inviting the general public to not only come and taste their wares, but to be entertained as well.

The Rhymney micro-brewery is at the top end of the Eastern Valley on an industrial estate just outside Blaenavon; and a million miles from the usual haunts of the comedy elite.

But make no mistake, the two bill-toppers here were very much premier league. Mike Bubbins and Dan Mitchell have a wealth of broadcast exposure already; both are great writers of comedy and share the vital knack of weighing up an audience and getting them onside from the very start.

Mitchell was runner-up in the ITV comedy talent show, Show Me The Funny, earning glowing accolades from the likes of Ross Noble and Bob Mortimer, while Bubbins – also known for his uncannily accurate Elvis tribute act – is currently to be heard on BBC Radio Wales in the supernaturallythemed comedy show, The Unexplainers.

As stand-up performers each has their own distinctive style but share a skewed viewpoint on the mundane and every-day, bringing exasperation and surrealism into focus with splendid effect.

Bubbins tells of his love/hate relationship with hometown Barry and the gulf that exists between Wales and the world when it comes to bigging-up one’s place of birth.

His attempts to ‘sell’ the town and his description of the funfair’s ghost train will have jogged many a local memory. He also got huge laughs for his uncannily accurate descriptions of Saturday nights out in Swansea and Newport.

Cardiff-based Mitchell shared his observations on the peculiarity of the Welsh language from the beauty of the various words for butterfly to the less likely translations for jellyfish – pisgod wybli-wobli being one of the less lurid.

The sell-out event was organised by Owen Niblock and also featured sets from James Dunn and Chris Chopping.

Bob Rogers