I.It’s hard to resist the stand-up of Stand Up & Deliver (Channel 4), which aims to turn non-celebrity actors into portable standups in just two weeks, through mentoring and the support of well-known comedians. Anyone who has spent some time watching live comedy will know that even high-flying professionals find it difficult from time to time, so watching amateur is like trying a room full of strangers. do promise tasty schadenfreude. And it’s all about supporting Stand Up to Cancer, so you get a sense of worth laughing with their struggles.
The cast is brilliant: the Rev. Richard Coles, Curtis Pritchard ‘s main villain, former Korean star Katie McGlynn, Conservative contemporaries Sayeeda Warsi and, best of all, Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder. Everyone has the experience of performing for the public, but trying to get them to turn that into a deliberately funny one is as hard as you’d expect and then more so. difficult again. Their mentors – David Baddiel, Judi Love, Zoe Lyons, Nick Helm and Jason Manford, respectively – look weird about the prospect of shaping a comedian. Then they find out what they need to work with.
To put things off, non-actors need to make two minutes of unwritten standing, so that the advisors can look for strengths and weaknesses. It’s like MasterChef’s opening rounds, where the contestants have to show off their raw skills, which usually involves someone laying risotto without cooking and hoping for the best. These first attempts are largely a series of uncooked risottos, albeit upside down to the concept, since it is not funny – in this context – humorous.
McGlynn is determined but self-conscious and will easily be bullied on her own, while Pritchard can’t stop laughing before he reaches his jokes, which are usually on the smug side. Coles is polished, but holds something back. Ryder is undecorated and holds nothing back. Warsi seems to be the big surprise, as she seems to be very funny from the outside. “I’m famous on the Isis kill list,” in fact it’s an opening.
Helm is willing to partner with her, because she is “suddenly Conservative”, as he puts it. He makes it clear that he would rather have anyone else, which is more bizarre than any of the bad ones. He has to get past his thoughts about her, while she has to let go and let go. Their story is a staple of these shows, with the couple embarking on the kind of journey the cameras love. “I don’t do that on stage; he swears too much, ”Warsi tells Helm, after swearing a storm in predictions during a far-cuff rant (which, of course, is now on national television).
Then there’s Ryder, a man who should have no problem with substance, but whose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder makes it difficult for him to turn his thoughts into anything sensible. You get the idea that Manford thought he won the lottery when he was matched with Ryder, just to get rid of the idea. As he says, being so funny in the pub is not the same as making a standup for an audience of thousands, or everyone would do it.
Even telling a joke to Ryder proves to be funny, though that may not be how Manford would have been happy. As Manford launches a bit about his kids, Ryder is amazed: “You’re joking, friend!” “I’m joking, yes,” said Manford, the scale of his remarkable work becoming clear. But Ryder ‘s stories, when he rests and tells them, offer a series of entertainment, not to mention a five – minute set. All I can say is that I will never eat a tomato again without examining where they came from.
Many people harbor fantasies from trying to standup, but this show dismisses any romantic notion that it would be easy, or fun. As Lyons says, after 20 years in the industry, she still wonders why she does it: “You could be a vet! ”But Stand Up & Deliver also suggests it may be therapeutic. By the end of this first part, I was so entrenched in their “trips” that I forgot there was a competitive element. At this stage, anyone could win. But hearing Ryder tell that story about a tomato means we are all winners.