Simon Evans GENIUS Review: Evans has the middle-aged audience eating out of the palm of his hand

Simon Evans brings his unique style of comedy to the stage in his new show GENIUS

Best known for his appearance on TV programmes such as Michael Mcintyre’s comedy roadshow LIVE AT THE APOLLO and STAND UP FOR THE WEEK, comedian Simon Evans takes his Edinburgh Fringe Festival show GENIUS out on tour with a stop at Salford’s The Lowry.

Complaining about his thinning hair and the fact that he’s looking a lot older, Evans opens the show by discussing his age and how it is catching up with him. With his newly acquired spectacles and beard, Evans seems to have been taking styling tips from Jeremy Corbyn, so much so that I did a double take. With his self-effacing jokes about having ‘senior moments’ and his caustic remarks about parenthood, Evans has the middle-aged audience eating out of the palm of his hand and his hilarious explanation about the death of OAP cat lovers quickly has them howling with laughter.

The first half of the show sees Evans touch on modern-day politicians and the lack of qualifications the current leaders of the Tory and Labour Party have. In his usual pompous style, Evans asks us to consider if these leaders are fit to run our country, including the Brexit negotiations, without a decent qualification between them.

In the second half, Evans compares his old Guinness Book Of Records he has had since 1974 with the modern version his Son received last year, demonstrating how much our world has changed in that time. What we used to consider a great feat or true genius has certainly changed, with entries in the modern version including someone who gets “the most tweets” for a reason I can’t even recall. Do likes on social media really qualify as reasons to be mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records these days? Gone are the days that you were expected to be 8 foot tall or the idiot who was happy to sit in a bath full of baked beans for a year.

Still, Evans is a very funny guy. His recognition of his own snobbery and his comic delivery for his ‘contempt’ for his children, family and modern life make him for me, one of the stand out comedians of modern times. He is intelligent, articulate and well read. The only flaw is his danger of missing a trick with younger comedy circuit audiences, for whom most of his material would not mean anything. Perhaps its time for Evans to reach out to them and try his material with fans of all ages before his current fan base all get decimated by their cats?

Simon Evans performed at The Lowry on 16 March and is on tour nationally until 9 June 2018. 

Lyn

Lyn Davies works a travel advisor Mon-Fri. Aspiring film critic on the weekends. Loves: reading, travel, theatre and cinema. Hates: ugly feet, men in socks and sandals.