Tour review

With Colin from Portsmouth – a furious radio phone-in

blowhard who parrots every right-wing outrage going – the Exploding Heads enliven social media.

But the leap from 90 seconds to 90 minutes exposes the limitations of a parody who’s sometimes barely distinguishable from the actual comment sections of the Daily Express or Mail Online.

The character has clearly swallowed the outlandish output of some of the more rabid elements of the right-wing media. But while his opinions are toxic, he’s dumb enough to be a surprisingly sympathetic character, a victim of what he consumes rather than actively hate-filled.

He’s Al Murray’s Little Englander but with less sophisticated irony, or Jonathan Pie’s permanently irate commentator without the smart, precise skewering. In fact, Steve Wright’s Mr Angry is probably a closer reference point, someone easily trigged by half-truth he takes to be an affront to all he thinks he believes. 

As portrayed by Mark Davison, Colin hates the ‘anti-growth coalition’, cyclists, Gary Bloody Lineker, the EU, and so on. But he loves the flag, and vaguely defined ‘British values’, essentially the sort of ill-defined ‘anti-woke’ patriotism that Robert Jenrick’s trying to make into a political philosophy.

Phone-in host Anthony Richardson, the real name of the other comic in this partnership, knows how to press Colin’s buttons to generate some of that monetisable outrage, but is wary of his regular going too far.

The mockery is laid on with a pretty broad brush, perhaps a given since the reactionary views the duo are parodying are already crassly exaggerated. However some good lines emerge as Colin rails against right-on Kier Starmer changing the National Anthem or the National Trust being akin to the Taliban for daring to introduce vegan scones.

The Exploding Heads have added a few layers of contrivance to try to convert their topical online clips into something that works as a stage show. Primarily, it’s by making the Colin sections interrupt what is pitched as ‘audience with’ Davison’s other character, footballer turned potential pundit, Ian Fiveankles. 

He’s a washed-up figure, trying to relaunch himself onto the lucrative after-dinner speaking circuit despite a palpable inability to be entertaining. Richardson tries to goad him into being a Richard Keys-style provocateur, but he’s too indecisive for that.

In many ways, Fiveankles feels like a derivative character – a simplistic version of Alan Partridge, perhaps – especially in details such as his attempts to win back ex-wife Denise. 

Yet the particulars of his lacklustre playing career are wryly amusing, from his modest accolades, to short-lived career with dozens of clubs, every one of which is apparently in his DNA, to coin one of many clichés the pair embrace.

The duo seem aware of how thin the artifice of this set-up is, but stick with it, gamely embracing increasingly stupid territory, such as Colin going to unlikely extremes to protect his identity, and even temporarily becoming woke. All the while they offer a metaphorical wink to the audience that they know how preposterous this all is. 

The show’s wrapped up with a message that we’re free of Tory incompetence and self-service after 14 years that’s surely more triumphalist than the national mood of uncertainty about the new lot. The other takeout about public figures having their reputations laundered by reality TV, like Nigel Farage on I’m A Celebrity, is harder to argue with.

But it’s probably a night for fans only. The only couple in the Brighton audience identified as not being previously aware of Colin From Portsmouth left the interval. Perhaps they were expecting Colin From Accounts? Whatever, their departure is probably a signal the live show isn’t an introduction to this world if you’re not already following them online, though it gives fans what they want.

• The Exploding Heads are on tour with Colin From Portsmouth until October 12. Tour dates.

Review date: 25 Sep 2024
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Brighton Komedia