By Catherine Cunningham
“The first night of Russell Howard’s Wonderbox tour reveals a fighting fit show but it’s time he moved out of his juvenile comfort zone.” -The Telegraph report, Dominic Cavendish.
“Wonderbox veers between playful and perverse, somehow finding a middle ground where the two extremes can blend.” – The Echo, Liverpool.
“Russell Howard was definitely one of my favourite comedians and now after his Wonderbox show, I couldn’t stop laughing. From his entrance, to his personal story at the end, he was absolutely brilliant- it was one of the best nights of my life!” – Charlie Black, Wonderbox attendee.
The floppy haired, 33 year old Bristolian comedian has recently been accused of losing his touch, and needing to diversify his act. Sitting in the Echo Arena on the 19th March, I can safely say that this crowd agreed with that in no way, shape or form.
Yes- he does stick to what he knows. Anecdotes about family and friends, childhood memories, fears- however with these base topics come all sort of tangents that could or could not be scripted, and the tangents are the ones that really get you in stitches.
Howard opened the act with a ridiculously stereotypical scouse impression, which was accepted with laughter and applause- one hell of an indicator that the night is going to go well. Then he started talking about tweets he’d received about Liverpool (apparently one of the best things to do here is to walk behind really slow old people.), again mocking the people of this city, however doing it in such a way that we managed to laugh at ourselves.
His dramatic entrance
The rest of the show, I want to say was predictable, but was far from it. He did talk about his usual subjects, but went off on tangents such as a lion and a penguin bar getting worried about royalties on their chocolate bars, what a females private parts would sound like if they could talk, and a heckle that is deflected to dinosaurs and evolution.
After a show with more gyrating and pelvic thrusts than Magic Mike, he brought it to a touching end- first of all opening the audience up to questions and giving out hugs and selfies, then proceeding to tell the inspirational story of a friendship blighted by terminal cancer… a story that showed his charitable, human side.
Want to see other shows coming up at the Echo Arena? Here’s what’s on:
Miranda Hart: My what I call, live show. 24-25th March
Men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics British championships. 28-30 March
Disney on ice presents World of Fantasy. 02-06 April
Tinie Tempah 2014. 07 April
Harlem globetrotters 2014. 08 April
Gary Barlow since I saw you last- the tour. 11th April
Elbow 2014. 12 April
McBusted. 19th April
The Liverpool Line 