I could hear this show from a mile-off. Was it a laughing audience? I hear you ask? No. It was the boom, boom, BOOM of the bass coming from the venue's speakers. As we descended the stairs into the basement I couldn't help but wonder – was this setting the tone of how loud this event would be?
Thankfully, it wasn't. We were welcomed in by Paul McCaffrey himself, which was a lovely touch, and got ourselves settled in the warm and crowded room. Clearly a lot of people wanted to see this man in action.
I was genuinely surprised at how relatable this show was. I mean, a 20 year-old girl doesn't exactly have a great deal in common with a 40-something year-old man. But every story that he told, he told in such a way that engaged and humoured every single member of the audience, including myself. He had a wide variety of facial expressions, voices and dramatic imagery at his disposal that he used in clever combinations to take the audience to the scenes of these stories. Sometimes these things got the better of McCaffrey and as he tried to imitate an over-enthusiastic American waitress, he began to laugh uncontrollably, which made me desperate to know what was going to happen next. It was worth waiting for, for sure!
My favourite part of Fresh Hell was the news story where he compared his hangovers to natural disasters. This whole section was just pure genius. I've never been drunk, or hungover, but the description of what happened using meteorological terms was an extremely effective and entertaining way of getting the preceding events across.
Oh it was brilliant! I'd never understood why people enjoyed going to see stand-up comedy so much but there is an electric atmosphere that I've never experienced anywhere else. Thinking about checking it out? Definitely go, you won't regret it. Not thinking about it? Go anyway – you'll love it! And make sure you take some change for a donation – McCaffrey is more than worth it.
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