Review by Steve Bennett

Terry Alderton’s the stand-up equivalent of ADHD, with a set that’s a fast-cut cacophony of noise and gags and gimmicks and action, always keeping the audience surprised. It’s like watching TV while a cat plays with the remote, changing channels at random, sometimes dropping you back on something you’d been watching before, sometimes settling on something new – only to flip again when you’re getting into it.

As a technique, it’s as effective as it is original. You have to pay attention to keep up – as if you could ever let your mind wander with this human Looney Toons on stage anyway.

‘I like noise,’ the Southend lad tells us, redundantly given we’re midway through a set that frequently showcases his mean beatboxing skills, although always in the service of a gag, even if apparently tenuously. Plus he has a versatile voice, not only able to impersonate the likes of Lee Evans and Alan Carr, but slip into mini-characters of his own making at the drop of a beat. It means he can keep returning to gags such as his sad-sack Fathers4Justice campaigner with just a single, out-of-context, barked-out line suggesting a whole back story of anguish.

His trademark routine, though, is to vocalise the voices in his head, turning away from the audience to offer a running commentary on the performance, occasionally glancing demonically over his shoulder to glimpse those he’s talking about.

The set’s a maelstrom of activity, full of energy, verve and disorientating snap cuts that continually surprises and entertains.

Review date: 25 Jul 2010
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett