Review of Travestees Comedy Club, Glastonbury featuring Rob Deering - 25th Jan 2012

Travestees Comedy Club returned to Tor Leisure in Glastonbury this week, billed as more chips, more chairs and cheaper beer.  The comedy buffet has been replaced with sausages and the room was the busiest it's been in ages with plenty standing at the back.

Compere Mark Olver had returned too, noticing that the "under new management" venue felt like it was being squatted and although he'd not been in town for many moons he soon warmed up the crowd - spotting old sparring partners as well as finding a few new ones (like front row Will in his hat).  As compere Mark's one of the best in the business, and tonight was no exception as he regaled us of tales of dating a racist chiropractor, the use of swearing and..um...funny magnets (at least I think that's what he called them!).  It was good to have him back.

First up was Canadian Bobby Mair; he has an impressive comedy CV in his homeland, but moved to London just 6 months ago and was as a result new to me.  Starting quite tentatively he seemed nervous at first, and took a while to hit his stride with jokes concerning alcohol selling restrictions in supermarkets, the Brixton McDonalds and the Iron Lady film, but after a faltering few minutes he (and we) really got into the swing of his material which became more confident, depraved and unrepeatable as his set progressed.  He was very funny indeed and the audience certainly warmed to him (even if they may not necessarily invite him round to babysit).

After the first interval Chris Turner took the stage.  I'd seen this baby faced newcomer as a finalist at the BBC New Comedy Awards last year, and although his material was somewhat unpolished back then, it is much more finely honed now, and even the groan worthy puns and witty one liners I'd already heard at the Awards seemed fresh, although it was evident that some people didn't always connect with his more smugly clever material.  Nevertheless he went down well and left the stage to great applause following a very well executed freestyle rap featuring verses composed from phrases thrown at him by the punters.

Finally it was the turn of musical comedian Rob Deering.  He's been treading the boards for well over a decade and last appeared at Travestees a couple or so years ago.  Armed with a guitar and a multitude of effects pedals as well as greying hair and a wide Cheshire cat grin, Rob's a slick and professional performer.  Although people who hadn't seen him before lapped up his material, alas to me it seemed overfamiliar, with recurring themes concerning both George Michael and a tortoise as well as musical mash-ups pairing the likes of Nirvana with Abba and The Wurzels with Black Sabbath.  Tonight it seemed a shame that he didn't push his boundaries to entertain us, because he has the potential to be one of the best musical comedy acts out there yet appeared to be content to play it safe.