We have mostly resisted the temptation to review live online stand-up comedy during lockdown, not because we doubt the talent of the performers but simply because it can’t ever really offer that pure stand-up gig feel that we know and love. That being said this plague doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon and we are in serious need of a fresh fix of funny.

So what better place to start than with a clown that we only actually know from making us laugh online? Alasdair Beckett-King started popping up regularly in our twitter feed late last year as people we follow shared his work. But it was this skit that confirmed to us that we really had to see this guy perform live…

When we saw that he was playing the online Leicester Comedy Festival we cleared our -already empty- schedule and grabbed some tickets. As we were waiting for the show to begin one of the first things that I noticed was that there wasn’t an enforced mute on the audience, this was new to me following our last experience of online comedy but turned out to be an absolute gamechanger!

Our clown appeared on screen to cheers from those in attendance, instantly helping to provide some sense of authentic atmosphere. Alasdair seemed to respond well and even at one point tried a brave attempt to “work the room” when someone “whooped” as their town got a mention. Trusting the audience to behave and only join in when laughing or applauding really paid off, the risk of this strategy is obvious but on this night it was a 100% win.

As this was a work-in-progress show some of the bits were still in a state of flux but there were more than enough highlights to keep us thoroughly entertained. The phone call with the Big Boppa and his (possibly unintentional?) impression of Steven Gerrard as the Bubbleman were highlights and even the moment where he realised that he was about to do a call back to a gag that he had actually removed from the show worked well simply because of the rapport our clown had built with his virtual audience.

Lastly we cannot conclude without mentioning his fabulous sidekick “Alan the Vaudeville Raven”, a northern bird puppet with an end-of-pier vibe that really shouldn’t have worked but absolutely did.

I feel like I am writing this a lot at the moment but once again I genuinely cannot wait to see this clown perform a proper live gig. His material is strong, his flow is original and if he can work a stage half as well as he can work a screen then we are in for a great show – just don’t forget to bring Alan!

Clown Stars: (-unrated-)

@ Leicester Comedy Festival, Online