Mike McClean may have been wearing his Buttons outfit from Cinderella but this wasn’t a panto crowd-friendly show. Nowhere close.
Around 600 people braved the cold on Saturday, a surprisingly good turnout at Ipswich Corn Exchange.
Front row Mike, who unintentionally almost stole the show, probably regretted the decision not to remove his sizeable coat the whole evening.
It led to one of the most bizarre, but hilarious, stand-offs I’ve seen between a comedian and audience member.
Sensing comedy gold, support act Ryan McDonnell mined it for all it was worth; resulting in a potential strip-off between the two with the audience getting in on the act chanting “off, off, off”.
Ipswich crowds have a reputation for making acts work for it and the energy dipped a bit when McDonnell came on after McClean’s first stage stint. It didn’t take him long to turn things round. On the downside, I’ve had to give up toast. If you were there, you know why. If you weren’t, you’re better off not knowing.
Promising a ruder, funnier version of Derren Brown, McClean was on top form. His brutal handling of the slew of latecomers had us in tears. While his mind-reading segments were genuinely impressive, it was the jokes people were talking about on the way out. A great night out.
Read my interview with McClean here.
Wayne Savage
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