Review: Tom Allen at the Music Hall in Aberdeen

Comedian Tom Allen is the host with the most from Bake-Off Extra Slice, master of the pointed question, acerbic put-down and witty reply.

The first act of his Completely show at the Music Hall last night saw him in the television role he’s best known for, cheekily joking around like a mischievous schoolboy with several unsuspecting audience members, his asides and quips raising equal measures of blushes and laughter.

Introducing his support act, Louise Young, with a roomful of applause and cheering, he generously set the stage then left her to enjoy the warm laughter of this first-night audience.

A Geordie lass by her own description, she was the naughty to Tom’s nice, with her stories of growing up in South Tyneside seemingly the polar opposite of Tom’s upbringing as the posh, gay, Victorian clothes-wearing son of an HGV driver.

The intricacies of modern life

His return to the stage before the interval sees Tom discuss the intricacies of modern life – Zoom calls, internet dating and online shopping, his observations about cookies and robots proving hilarious to this almost sold-out first-night audience.

Having served up the shocked schoolboy and gay innuendo of the first act, his stand-up routine after the interval projects him into adult life, dating, holidays with his boyfriend and moving out of his parents’ house into a home of his own. He even touches on his dad’s death in one moving tale.

Setting up a home in particular gives him plenty of scope for fun, with descriptions of furniture shopping in department stores and inviting friends with children for dinner giving way to much laughter as the stories unfold.

In whichever role he plays, presenter or stand-up comic, Tom Allen has an easy wit which embraces the audience and envelops them in his world – camp, quirky and oh so funny.