| Description | Tony Allen comperes at the Comedy Store featuring Jim Barclay (Jim Crow), The Greatest Show on Legs, John Revell (Nick Revell), Arthur Brain (Tony Green) and John Hegley. Recorded same night as recording BSUCA/TA/1/13.
Side A / track 1: [31:43] [00:00] Tony Allen starts the show. Lots of audience chaos. Jokes about the venue, mentioned shredded Bacofoil and a Gothic Lego ceiling. Says there will be some amazing acts and some not so amazing. [01:45] Explains about the dubious device of the gong. Audience shouts gong. Explains he’s part of Alternative Cabaret. Some gags about this. Describes a gig they did this week, dealing with audience interruptions as he does so. Tells audience that persistent gongers will be dragged onstage. Asks how a punter gets so pissed at these prices. [03:55] Says they should have been at this gig. Jokes about Time Out getting the listings mixed up. Does his classic gag about how Lenny Bruce died, and he started off. [05:46] Applause welcomes Jim Barclay onto the stage. He enters singing a football song about a crow, does another football chant. Talks about things being alternative and deals with a heckler. He’s in character as a football yob. Talks about splattering a sick bag onto an air hostess. The rant continues with him shouting, ‘Didn’t I?’ repeatedly. [08:07] He comments on the audience paying four quid to get in, compared with strip club next door. Sex shops compared with DIY warehouse. [09:12] Pretends to be a street trader selling sex aids. [10:50] Talks about Thames telethon, does impression of Jimmy Savile doing Jim’ll Fix It as if Margaret Thatcher has written in asking for nuclear submarines. [A later version of this routine can be heard on the Let the Children Play LP] Jim says good night to end the act Applause. [12:56] Tony Allen comes back on. He explains that the show is being taped for LBC, their obscenities will go out on radio. Announces Greatest Show on Legs. [13:15] Brief applause. Member of the act talks about Chinese plate spinning, which they will do with three dirty old men. [14:14] Music for this stunt starts – Offenbach. Laughter at the visual jokes. The routine ends in applause, followed by audience hubbub. [15:30] Tony Allen comes back on. He explains that the show is being taped for LBC, their obscenities will go out on radio. Announces Greatest Show on Legs. He says that they’ll be back later. Explains there’s a rule – no gonging first timers. Announces a first timer – John Revell [AKA Nick Revell] [16:06] John Revell comes on and mentions Errol Flynn to suggest that a heckler at the back is a ‘prick’. Into character piece with a very high-pitched voice, northern accent. People start shouting ‘gong’. Surreal story about an eagle and a tortoise with references to Aeschylus. Baying starts again. Reference to Duke of Edinburgh. Somebody shouts and the act ends in chaos. [18:47] Tony Allen comes back on, and imitates the high-pitched voice. Announces next act, ‘Arthur Mendacious Brain’ [AKA Tony Green]. Audience chatter during long pause before act comes on. [19:58] Comments on audience, announces his name. It’s a kind of character act, with a kind of Cockney accent. Says he’s very well known. Talks about still being a virgin. Calls of ‘off’ from audience. Talks about first sexual encounter. Asks a woman for sex and she accuses him of being sexist. [23:42] Audience start to bay for him to leave. He asks if they want him to go, but continues anyway. Wonders if he was gay. Went to see a psychiatrist. Refers to the fact someone in audience has shouted gong. Responds to some of the hecklers. [24:58] Baying grows, and we hear the gong, followed by cheering and applause. Loud audience hubbub. [25:27] Tony Allen comes back on says they can break up into groups and discuss that act. Announces that they act was Tony Green who does the act as part of his 200 hours community service. Tony addresses something in audience, then sets up another microphone for next act. Some audience hubbub while this is sorted out. Makes a joke about second microphone and ‘talking pricks’. Announces John Hegley. Applause. [27:29] John Hegley’s act starts with a chord from his guitar. Says he’s just been in Amsterdam, where there was a lot of dogshit. He does a song about dogshit and says the people of Amsterdam loved it. [28:43] Sings a song about an armadillo, with guitar. People starts baying, ‘Off!’ He continues with song. [31:06] Song ends with some applause. He sets up the audience to shout ‘suitcase’ as part of next song. Starts singing song about a suitcase. [31:32] tape ends.
Side B / track 2: [32:19] [00:45] John Hegley’s act continues with the rest of the suitcase song. Tries to get them to shout ‘suitcase’ and ‘gong’. Tony Allen intervenes to keep the acts going. The song continues, with the audience shouting during the choruses. [02:40] Song ends, audience hubbub. Tony Allen comes back on and says JH has a beautiful song called ‘Amoeba’, brings him back on to sing it. Sets audience up to shout ‘amoeba’ during song. [03:19] ‘Amoeba’ song begins. Tells the audience they can sing ‘gong’ in last chorus if they don’t like it. Song ends with cheering and applause. [05:50] Tony Allen comes back on and says that an expert in the audience said every detail in the last song was correct. Warns the audience that if they keep gonging, there’ll be no more comedians and they’ll go home in 25 minutes. Announces Pamela Stephenson. [06:36] Pamela Stephenson’s act starts with accompaniment from electronic keyboard. She does a kind of mock-sultry, cod-French chanteuse song. There’s a bit where she seems to act out a scene, ending with a scream, then back into song. [09:27] Song ends with applause. She starts talking about how much easier it is on TV with a studio audience. She deal with a heckler. Talks about having followed somebody the other week after he dropped his trousers. Talks about a new defence technique against rapists. [11:27] Asks how many women in this audience have never faked an orgasm, and a man shouts, ‘Me!’ Asks a heckler if he knows what would happen if he were in a TV studio. Talks about studio audiences. Says she’s going to do some impressions. Does an impression of Lena Zavaroni. [13:35] Audience start shouting ‘Off!’ Talks about her husband, having an orgasm every time. She did a show in Edinburgh. Christian hoodlums break into house and vacuum. Jokes about Jesus. Body search at airport. [16:04] Says she’s going to do some improvisation, asks for subjects from audience. The suggestions are suitcase and nuclear war. She discusses the suggestions, then does a characterisation of Margaret Thatcher. Act ends with applause. Tony Allen comes back on, to ironic cries of ‘more!’ Tony announces a 15-minute break. Audience hubbub. [18:11] Pause in recording. [18:17] Recording resumes. Tony Allen is talking to the audience about them being drunk. He announces the audience spot is coming on and warns them he’ll be bringing the loud ones up on stage. Announces Paul Goodman and Ian Russell. Applause, followed by hubbub which continues for a while. [19:33] Paul Goodman is a singer and Ian Russell is his pianist. Paul Goodman starts to introduce the first song, and somebody shushes the audience. The introduction explains that the first song is about schizophrenic. [19:49] Song begins. Piano and vocals. Paul Goodman has a Scots accent, and adopts a showbiz-style delivery for some of the songs. The lyrics mentions a lot of famous people. [21:29] Song ends with applause, cheering and whistles. Paul Goodman start to introduce next song, but has to compete with shouting from audience. He says he’s not going to give them any instant repartee. He says he is Jewish and talks about going through Bar Mitzvah at 13. [23:06] Song begins – it’s a parody of the Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’, but out Bar Mitzvah. [25:06] Song ends with long applause, whistles and cheering, followed by loud shouting from audience – ‘Oggy oggy oggy!’, etc.] Paul Goodman says the next song is about drugs. [25:58] Song begins. Some vocal harmonies on choruses. [27:40] Song ends – applause, etc. Goodman introduces next song [28:28] Song begins. This one is about a bad manager. [32:02] Song ends and they say goodnight. Applause. [32:09] Recording ends. |