Review by Steve Bennett

Outside of the mini new act competition Latitude holds, reigning Leicester Mercury Comedian Of The Year Josh Widdicombe was probably the least experienced stand-up to take to this intimidating stage this weekend.

And although he has some fine material, much of it from the point of view of an anally over-analytical chap uncomfortable with lad culture, he struggled to raise much of a titter from the thousand-plus audience, in contrast to his much more assured performance in front of 100 or so at Kent’s Lounge In The Park festival last weekend.

But his gags often deserved more than this muted response. Observations about such fresh topics as narrowboats and Madame Tussaud’s are both lovely and obtuse, while his inventive new routine about heightened senses was quirkily funny.

True, he occasionally pushes his premises too far: he might have been amused by spotting a sign in the Co-op offering legal advice, but his extrapolation stretches the idea too thin. Other routines are empirically impressive for the clever lines of thought that have gone into them, but don’t quite make that emotional connection to bring a neutral audience on-side.

But the aforementioned routines, plus witty takes on being dumped and (separately) burgled indicate a promising future once he can build an audience empathy with large crowds such as this to match the craftsmanship of his best material.

Review date: 25 Jul 2010
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett