Reviews

It's the second time I've seen Carr perform stand up comedy. The first was at this year's Latitude Festival, where he provided a ray of light to a packed comedy tent taking refuge from the rain.

Before then I was aware of his reputation as a stand up but had been left cold by his role in the Friday Night Project. So I anticipated his performance with relatively low expectations.

Forty five minutes later and I was a full convert - won over by his interaction with the crowd along with a varied routine which encompassed his appearance, a failure to meet the expectations of a father involved with professional sport, living arrangements - house sharing and life on his own - and plenty of references to the quirks of shops such as Lidl and TK Maxx.

With a gruelling tour schedule and his TV commitments, it was perhaps unrealistic to expect Carr to arrive in Ipswich with an entire show of fresh material.

But as he was the main attraction this time around, and therefore had twice the amount of stage time, I was hoping that at least half the show would be new to my ears.

Welcome to Ipswich

"So I'm on tour at the moment," Carr says as he arrives on stage. "Lowestoft, Skegness, Port Talbot, Ipswich. Somebody pinch me."

Far from offending the locals, making a joke at the host town's expense often seems to win over the audience. It makes them, the performer, one of us - and it's a given that you're allowed to laugh at yourself.

Alan Carr finds it easy to relate to the audience. His points of reference are unlikely to leave anyone scratching their head and his self deprecating manner results in a healthy mix of laughs and sympathy.

Tesco, for example is a recurring object of conversation. "I had my identity stolen - £250 spent in one go at Tesco. On the plus side, think of all those club card points. Every little helps."

Stories from his time working at the supermarket, where he'd swap name badges with other staff, to his thoughts on the new pack and stack machines follow.

Morrison's also gets a namecheck, and Carr uses a bomb going off in Lidl as a comparison to the state of an Accident and Emergency ward he recently visited.

The show's split into two halves, with the first 45 minutes concentrating on recent events such as getting on the property ladder.

In several of his stories Carr manages to introduce characters with enough conviction that they become easy to visualise.

There's the heavily pierced housemate Monica, the noisy neighbour Karen and the estate agent with big eyes who tries to sell Carr flats which are so small they resemble a "panic room with a kettle".

"You can cook dinner, go for a s**t and answer the door at the same time."

Audience finds its voice

Carr teased the audience during the first half for being too quiet. He needn't have worried, as when he approaches the subject of his childhood after the interval a loud gasp of sympathy rings out around the Regent.

"You haven't even heard what happened yet," Carr says, slightly taken back by the response. "It may have been a very happy time for all you know."

Not surprisingly the tales which follow are of Carr struggling to fit in with the people around him, especially when it comes to sport.

"I had glasses, a brace and a hearing aid. I didn't need a hearing aid but you may as well have the full set."

His father, Graham Carr, was manager of Northampton Town Football Club and Alan's tales of growing up with unrealistic sporting expectations continually have the audience in rapturous laughter.

You say goodbye, I say hello

Having built up a good rapport with the audience, especially fellow singleton Kat and a lady who gave him a chocolate eclair, Carr says his goodbyes and leaves the stage for all of five seconds before returning to the microphone for an encore.

What follows this pointless exercise is somewhat surreal. The show deviates into some sort of Heat magazine celebrity spotting fest - with a large number of the audience reaching for their cameras to take photos of Carr, and a sharp increase in the number of heckles.

"I think we've all got a bit to excited, don't you Ipswich?"

It's all a bit strange, and Carr's finale passes by with a whimper.

On reflection there were very few jokes which hadn't made it on the Latitude stage three months prior to his Regent show. This was slightly surprising given the extra time he had at his disposal.

It's perhaps not a fault of his, but I left The Regent wondering what the future holds for Alan Carr, stand up comedian.

Next time he comes to writing a stand up routine Carr will be significantly richer than he is now, and perhaps further removed from the everyday subjects which form the backbone of his show.

Will he have difficulty relating to an audience which he's likely to have less and less in common with?

Whatever the future holds there's little doubt that in late 2007 Alan Carr is a force to be reckoned with.

He's an engaging, animated and, perhaps most importantly, likeable comedian who provided an enjoyable night's entertainment.

The 90 minutes may have passed by with fewer new jokes than I would have hoped for, but being in Carr's company never feels like a drag.