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Boothby Graffoe & Omid Djalili...
review
Club Boothby is hard to pin down. Great comedy. Great music. It's a melting pot of talent, put together and headed up by the fabulously talented Boothby Graffoe of Radio Four fame. He's a Time Out Comedy Award winner and (spit) Perrier Award nominee (personally, I prefer the Tap Water Awards), but none of that matters very much once he's on stage... he's just very, very funny. Razor sharp wit, lightning quick improvisation, and a wonderfully surreal sense of humour that requires the audience's full attention to fully appreciate.
The band's drummer kicked the whole show off with a hand-clapping overture from the back of the venue, walking through the audience and ending up on the drums, to much applause... Boothby took to the stage with his guitar and was joined by The Following People... a group that he claims were there largely because they were the ones that phoned him back. This is something that is very hard to believe once you hear them all play together.
They launch into one of their numbers, Polar Bear, and it's instantly obvious that these are all very talented musicians... A gorgeous five piece jazz band supporting some eye-wateringly funny lyrics and complementing his stand-up routines perfectly. You'd pay to see this stuff. Which is probably just as well.
I challenge you to wipe the smile off your face as they belt out songs like Bungee Girl "There she goes... here she comes again", or through the crescendo of Does anybody here know how to sail a boat. A personal favourite, and I'm sure I'm not alone, is the grand finale... Baseball Playing Spider. I'll be singing the audience participation parts for weeks... when's the CD out I wonder?
The show is absolutely stuffed with gems - my notepad is full of them, but I'll stop here because I'll do them little justice in a review. I'd be happy enough to pay to see Boothby and his band on their own, but he is also joined by guests throughout the evening. Tonight we had the relatively close-to-the-bone but enjoyable Dave Lempkin from Shepherd's Bush, and Omid Djalili - the British-Iranian who was warming up some of his material for his forthcoming BBC1 Stand-up and sketch show.
If you get the chance to see Boothby Graffoe don't hesitate to get yourself a ticket. But you'll have to be quick...
about Komedia
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The gem in Brighton's performance arts crown is, undoubtedly, The Komedia - bringing an impressive array of comedy, live music, cabaret and theatre to a diverse audience. In fact, together with the sister-venue in Edinburgh, Komedia are at the forefront of the country's entertainment scene attracting professional and fringe acts from around the globe. The next Komedia date for your diary:
Wednesday, 1st October
The Duke Spirit
Click for more info and complete listings for Komedia 
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The Aquarium Theatre Bar
