Bringing all of his country charm in a musically indebted comedy performance, Rich Hall’s two-year delayed Aberdeen show was a real delight.
The Perrier Comedy Award winner and frequent TV guest on the likes of QI and Mock the Week visited the Tivoli Theatre last night as part of his Hoedown Deluxe tour.
As well as providing excellently improvised country tunes, Hall’s experience as a stand up for four decades shone brightly.
His sketches on politics and British stereotypes were laced with witty humour.
The Aberdeen crowd lapped up Hall’s roughneck country charm and come the end of the hoedown, there were nothing but smiles all round.
Rich Hall: Southern American dream
Donning a cowboy hat, brown snakeskin boots and a blue bandana, Hall looked every bit as Southern American as his gravelly vocal twang embodied.
“It’s been the dream of a lifetime to return to Aberdeen,” he sarcastically remarked, immediately setting the tone for the cleverly crafted north-east sketches that would later follow.
The atmosphere among the fairly full Tivoli crowd was buoyant from the get-go.
Being a London resident himself, topical themes such as the new prime minister and British stereotypes ran through his free-flowing first act without feeling cliched.
His stories of Trump and abortion laws back in his native US were also met with roars of laughter.
But towards the end of the first half of the show, sincerity shone through as Hall expressed how grateful he was to still be standing up on stage doing what he loves after four decades.
He recalled his donkey basketball MCing roots (apparently one of his first jobs) and reminded the audience that being the best version of yourself, no matter what you do, is all that matters.
A nice rare touch.
Otis Lee Crenshaw-esque hoedown
Comedians like Tim Minchin and Bill Bailey are experts at blending music into their comedy and Rich Hall is no different.
Under his infamous Otis Lee Crenshaw guise – a stereotypical Tennessean country musician – Hall has won awards and released several albums over the years.
Hall certainly channelled the spirit of Crenshaw in the flurry of amusing country hits that he performed in the second half of his Tivoli performance.
His ability to localise songs to the north-east, alongside the names and backgrounds of random audience members, was belly-achingly hilarious.
A salesman of Volkswagen car parts was the unlucky audience member sat in the second row to have been the subject of Hall’s funniest song of the night, seamlessly blending his job and marriage into a country song with great effect.
Another married couple also felt Hall’s wrath and other tunes based on a Garlogie locomotive and a rose of Hawick went down very well with the audience – all with the backing of his cohesive band.
Being sat perilously close to the front myself, I was definitely grateful not to have drawn Hall’s brooding gaze!
Impressive performance
Hall’s all-encompassing show was impressive from start to finish.
He may now be in his late 60s, but his levels of comical originality were certainly not in short supply last night.
Though the first half of stand-up was well performed, Hall had the audience fully in his grasp when it came to his north-east infused country music.
His genuine musicianship shone through and his improvisational skills were both outstanding and incredibly funny.
A Hoedown of Deluxe proportions? This sure was.
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