Review: CHRIS McCAUSLAND: YONKS, The Point
The financial sustainability of smaller Regional Theatres is being underpinned by the thriving standup comic circuit with comedians we have seen on the TV. The Point, Eastleigh is established on that circuit with recent visits from Mark Watson and Punt and Dennis and future visits from Matt Forde, Mark Simmons and Omid Djalili as well as their Anything Funny open mic nights and Edinburgh Comedy warm up night. This week Chris McCausland played two sell out nights with his latest tour Yonks which currently runs to May in Berwick before resuming in 2025.
McCausland has established himself as an accomplished performer in such shows as Would I Lie To You, Have I Got News For You and a wonderful episode in Not Going Out with Lee Mack set in a train carriage. His delightful personality and sharp comic timing often mocking the way people interact with him due to his blindness makes him an endearing and likable character. He brings all that to the stage in his 90-minute monologue delivered in a relaxed conversational style as he reflects on incidents from his 46 years of life and 21 years as a stand up.
He call the show Yonks as a word that is meaningless and describes an indeterminate period of time which he goes on to define as a Yonk being about six years, so his material reflects his 3.5 Yonks in the business.
It is a show with adult themes and there are long stories about audio described pornography and an intimate medical examination which sounded like personal experiences and certainly got loud laughs from the audience out of recognition, and I suspect embarrassment! His best stories are from his past about a nosebleed during a Nativity, applying to University, studying English Literature, a TV show called MeToo, the five Petes (regulars at his local pub), and the technology in Electric cars. They give him a chance to gentle poke fun at wokeness and also drop in occasional references to his blindness. It all reinforces his charm and likability and a sense of wellbeing in the audience.
His support is from Jon Long who opened the show reflecting on his move from the Fens to London and his love of Musical Comedy which began at eight, performing Victoria Wood songs at home. He accompanies himself on guitar, reflecting the light onto an audience member prompting a good gag about the irony of blinding someone at a Chris McCausland gig. There are some witty gags about the words in Love songs and an amusing sexed up song about the Environment and a clever twist to a song about two brother who are kidnapped. It makes for a pleasant warm up for the main event.
McCausland is a skilled storyteller, and the occasional callbacks provide some linking elements to the set but generally the show simply reinforces our appreciation of the persona we have enjoyed on TV and makes for an amusing entertaining night out in a venue that needs these full houses to survive.
*** Three Stars
Reviewed by Nick Wayne