Review: Tim Vine rolls out the jokes at the Swan (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Review: Tim Vine rolls out the jokes at the Swan

12:29pm Tuesday 23rd February 2010 in

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EVER tried telling a joke to a group of mates and completely forgotten how it goes, or made a complete hash of delivering the punchline?

Most people only have about three gags to their repertoire, which they usually forget within seconds.

So how Tim Vine manages to remember the thousands of jokes he gets through in an average gig is a mystery of medical science.

He had the audience at Wycombe's Swan Theatre in stitches as he reeled off joke after joke after joke in a relentless hour-long joke-a-thon last Thursday.

The thing with his 'Joke-amotive' show is each joke, when taken by itself, will raise no more than a chuckle – but when you're confronted by what seems like 500 in the space of 15 minutes, you can't help but roll around in fits of laughter.

Vine absolutely slayed the audience with his brilliant one-liners, hilarious props and a guest appearance by the Flag hippo – in much the same way he 'sleighed' his last audience, which apparently consisted entirely of reindeer (That's one of the three jokes I remember from the show, which proves my point).

Warming him up nicely was support act John Archer, whose magic tricks and wisecracks got the crowd going. Except for a chap in the front row, who Archer seemed to have it in for.

The 'Joke-amotive' certainly lived up to its name, as a 150mph express train ride of an evening. Which is more than can be said for the trains that normally run in Britain.

Vine was at the Wycombe Swan on February 18 at 8pm. The Swan have more comedians coming up including Alex Horne, Jo Caulfield, Laura Solon, Rhod Gilbert (which is sold out) and Dave Gorman.

For tickets go to www.wycombeswan.co.uk or call 01494 512 000.