It must be such a good time to be a comedian. Even if you aren’t renowned for your political observations, you’ll get a cheer by just naming essentially any politician and calling them a dickhead. Obviously there are those who are most astute and able to provide entertaining political discourse, but that’s the bar now.
To find a comedian who will perform an hour of pure stand-up without any reference to politics can be challenging to do, and refreshing when you manage. Kai Humphries’ signature cheeky chipper Geordie attitude is absolutely brilliant at combatting that sense of doom and gloom that lingers over society nowadays.
Before the show, someone enquired whether Humphries picked on people, and the ushers went to check. Humphries then comes strolling out of the Sportman at the Gilded Balloon to find out who asked, and with a massive beaming grin reassured everyone that he doesn’t. The show is Kai talking about life, his impending marriage, and his stag party.
That’s not to say the show is particularly high-brow. For large swathes of the show, Humphries was talking about his girlfriend’s sex waddle and their switch over to condoms. Penis size jokes were a staple, and there was another fabulous story about his dirty granddad. Absolutely lowbrow stuff but sometimes that is exactly what you need, and the humour Humphries can derive from such tales is wonderful. Watching Kai’s standup is like spending an hour in the pub with your mate. You feel like you know him instantly, and his friendly, non-combative demeanour puts you instantly at ease - although he does do Muay Thai!
Team Smug wasn’t perhaps his best show to date, and lacked that next level of depth that some of his earlier shows might have had, but Humphries is so honest, relatable and upbeat, you can’t help but like him. He has a slightly warped sense of humour, and always comes across as the boy from Blyth who never really grew up, and still can’t believe his luck that this is actually his job.
For tickets and more information you can visit the Ed Fringe website.
Kai also hosts a podcast with Daniel Sloss called Sloss and Humphries on the Road, and you can find that here.
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