| Collection | Andy de la Tour Collection |
| Description | Recording of an Alternative Cabaret night at Pentameters Theatre.
Side B of cassette: Static. [0:08] Introduction to Andy de la Tour [AdlT]. [0:48] Oval Office - geriatric cowboy, President Ronald Reagan (quip about 'the evil of two lessers'), sketch of a presidential speech. Audience laughter and applause. Focuses on nuclear war, tax cuts, immigration. [3:11] Jokes that he thought he would start with a bit of topical satire for the audience. Horrible few months/year for Margaret Thatcher, a horrible person. Makes a joke about Keith Joseph and privatising the RAF. Best friend being blown up. Airey Neave/Northern Ireland - playing it down in the news, always last news item. Compares attitude to the Second World War to the Northern Ireland 'war' - 'disturbances in Northern France', mention of Japanese nuclear bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Mentions Yalta and the theft of land. [6:20] Tradition of British war movies. Jokes about British war films and how they would be made about Northern Ireland. [7:37] Problem about Northern Ireland routine, upsets certain people - e.g. wives of dead soldiers - lowering tone. Volatile audience in Soho - compares it to wartime Saigon, American atmosphere. Going to the Comic Strip recently and there was an alarm going off outside one of the buildings. People just walking past and ignoring it. Makes a comment that they should use the PA systems to announce they're being broken into - police can arrive and talk back to the building. Contrasts it with a rape case - e.g. blaming the building for being broken into, multiple occupiers. [10:43] His whole act is preoccupied with death and violence. Personal anecdotes and life ambition as a child to be a hangman. Sent to public school for four years - learnt some Ancient Greek and how to perfect the art of silent masturbation. Goes into detail about how to accomplish that quietly in a crowded dorm room to audience laughter. Anecdote about a new student who did it too loudly and brashly. Jokes about one of his first experiences with a girl. [17:08] Jokes that when he first managed to lose his virginity it was great for about six seconds. Best part going back to school and bragging to his friends. Jokes about needing life support to last for twenty minutes in the bedroom. Men obsessed with keeping score about orgasms and girlfriend's former sexual partners (both male and female). [19:48] Sex first thing in the morning - women seem to really enjoy this, AdlT feels that for men it's like coming out of a general anaesthetic. Questions why stand-up comedians are always joking about sex and decides that now's the time to stop his jokes on that topic. [20:50] Says goodbye to the audience and they cheer. Introduces final comedy act of the evening - Tony Allen [TA]. Audience applause. [22:12] TA greets the audience. Brief impression of Alexei Sayle. Glass smashes and audience laughs. Background noise. [23:04] Welcomes the audience and encourages them to 'mellow out', audience claps. Alternative greetings to those on drugs. Remarks he's winded after a big meal - running out without paying. [24:10] On TV recently, peculiar experience, no one laughed. Structured the show in terms of jokes - not really his type of comedy but now people expect it of him and tell him jokes when they pass him in the street. Gives an example of a nice joke about Jesus and St Peter at the gates of heaven. Someone heckles TA, audience whoop, cheer and applause, someone shouts out 'more' repeatedly, audience laughs and groans. TA jokes that they're not paid to be sitting there and he's not paid to listen to their rubbish. Makes jokes about giving the heckler tranquilisers. [28:00] Remarks that hecklers always seem to be sitting in the front row. Continues with Jesus and St Peter joke. Talks about signing on the news in the West country instead of subtitles for deaf people - undermines the news. Heckler continues, TA's tone gets more serious and says that people have paid for a show and if he doesn't shut up he can leave. Audience applause. Hecklers continue, audience getting irritated, someone shouts out 'voice of the people' (unclear who this refers to). Hecklers are shouting for TA to get off the stage. [31:02] TA makes a remark about humour and another heckler shouts out 'not only are you boring, you're ugly' to TA. Audience applause. TA asks is the heckler finally leaving, and suggests the other hecklers go with him, audience jeers and applauds. TA jokes the man is like a second hand yoyo, up and down. Female heckler shouts back that they've heard it before. Another heckler calls him a c***, TA remarks that it's a word for a very soft and sensitive thing that he would never use on a person. [32:10] Goes back once more to his Jesus joke about going back down to earth for a day off. [33:33] Talks about supermarkets and ripping off/stealing - 'store detectives'/security guards. Talks to audience about how you can avoid citizens' arrests in these circumstances. [36:10] Anecdote about an older man with a briefcase full of papers that came up to him at a party, had a transistor radio on him, told him he was a scientist from the future. There was a lot of weed at the party so TA played along. Man continues his story about time travel and having something important to say - take me to your leader. [40:12] Anniversary of sorts, ten years ago. George Orwell predicted that by 1984 - government propaganda would be on a screen in every house. By 1962 most had voluntarily opted for it. Stand-up comedy is more than the aerosol spray in the shithouse of existence. [41:50] TA remarks that he doesn't have much time left for other material, audience member makes a comment and he replies he knows where he is. Interacts with audience debating how much time he has left - three or seven minutes. Goes through a lot of content so fast you're not quite sure what he's saying, audience member asks, what about mushrooms? TA said he'd been looking for them, got up early specially. Experience of Kew Gardens. TA says he's going to end as he wanted to finish early - free association etc. [44:17] audience applause.
[Summary by Ellis Spicer] |