Chris Corcoran's Committee Meeting - 17th July 2012

He may not know it, but Elis James and I have been through a lot, Many years ago I saw him host the short-lived Cardiff Bites at Dempseys & I was sick at the end of his gig at the Kaz Bar, again long gone and is  a relection on my inability to drink huge amounts of wine (then) than his act. He was then the opening act for DARKCHAT in 2009 in a tropical hell-hole called the Tron which was so hot ( those were the days) he shared his bottle of water with the audience to avoid possible fatalities.

He has a solo show in Edinburgh this year but was on cracking form at the Glee Club, Cardiff in " Chris Corcoran and Elis James  - The Committee Meeting".

The show does what it says on the tin. Chris Corcoran is in the chair and the and we (the audience) are his committee members. He is aided and abetted by Mr James in a couple of character roles, including Steve News, who wants to ... read the news. There is a lot of audience involvement and a surreal  Mastermind caretaker contest between rival club caretakers.

The evening then went up a level when we hear of the 85 year old's unexepected involvement on the American soul scene on the 1960's & 1970's. This section is well worth the price of admission alone!

Oddly enough the reason why this evening was successful might explain why they might not fare so well in the Scottish capital. Firstly, the preview is set in a Welsh Club with two Welsh comedians portraying Welsh characters performing in front of a Welsh audience. Secondly, they were clearly under-rehearsed and an audience loves nothing more than watching things going wrong, forgotten props, consistently missed music cues and Chris telling the audience " you are now watching Elis and and not an 85.year old character".

They have a couple of weeks to tighten up the show but I suspect the Scottish audience would still enjoy their apparent amateurishness. There will be slicker, more sensible shows in Edinburgh but this is worth catching to see two funnymen clearly thoroughly enjoying themselves which infectiously reaches out to the audience.