Place on Bill: 1^st Act

Venue: Barnstromers - Capitol, Horsham

Date of show:21^st November 2004

Paul B Edwards made an aside half way through his set; “I’m usually on much later," he said, "when everyone’s pissed!”

            I can’t say I’ve ever heard a stand-up make such a confession before but maybe Edwards was feeling slightly cautious about the appropriateness of his material and the sensibilities of his audience an hour before the watershed.

            However, whether it was because he didn’t care or he didn’t have any alternative material, it didn’t deter him from unleashing an assault of good natured and funny smut mixed with high energy rock ‘n’ roll all wrapped up in full Teddy Boy regalia.

            With guitar in hand, Edwards delivered a few rock impersonations, a couple of satirical cover versions and a selection of his own songs with musical competence and comedic energy. Rather than using the guitar as a segment of his act as some comedians do, Edwards incorporated his as a constant element of his basic delivery. Yes the songs were neat little set pieces but even between straight verbal jokes he provided an atmospheric soundtrack with intermittent strumming and added emphasis to each punchline with a twangy sting. For this reason alone Edwards stands out from his musical contemporaries but given his excellent material on top of that makes him an exceptional comedian from all angles.