What an unusual evening. To put that comment into perspective it started with us sitting on the floor in an upstairs souk drinking gin and eating wedges… but that was not the weird part.

Our Vault Festival venue for the evening was a short walk away from the main hub, just down Lower Marsh and next to the Old Vic. ‘Hello Darling’ is an appropriately named luvvie bar/restaurant where posing and quaffing appeared to be the plat-du-jour. The performance space is a small basement boudoir with mirrors on the ceiling, well worn kitsch furnishings, the faint smell of incense and more cushions than IKEA. It didn’t take us long to conclude that people have probably shagged on every available surface in the place.

We were judging our clown hard for his choice of venue but were delighted when he arrived and seemed just as bemused as anyone about why he was performing in someone’s living room.

This was when the show got weird, we had already had to watch one guy moving a stool from the front row to ‘the stage’ so that he could sit on the floor right under the mic (who does that?) but then people started to think that WiP stands for ‘willful interjections please’ rather than ‘work-in-progress’.

This venue had attracted more of a theatre crowd than a comedy one but it was still surprising that some members were so full of their own self-importance that they either thought that this show was either a give and take conversation or their chance to prove that they were the funniest guy in the room! Come on people, show some respect for the performer.

In fairness to Nigel Ng, our clown took it all in his stride. He opened by telling us he was gutted he’d sold out because he’d only wanted to bomb in front of 10 people and now he felt pressure to be good. He needn’t have worried, this was a truly fun work-in-progress show. As is to be expected a couple of things missed the mark but the majority of the material hit home and the gag about the reason why beer is so cheap in Hartlepool was well worth the price of entry alone!

Our clown bantered with the crowd and even managed to turn one woman’s constant questions about ‘Mock the Week’ (YES, it’s fake!) into a really fun routine. We danced from the ultimate Uber Pool (illegal immigration) and Paedophilia to microwave meals and transplant porn. Much like the venue this was a mad and eclectic mix, but unlike the venue our clown somehow made it work.

We would gladly see Nigel Ng again and highly recommended him to anyone looking to take a punt on a show. Hopefully we can catch his full set soon.

Clown Stars: (- unrated -)

 @ Hello Darling, London