Simon Evans is – according to his new show title – ‘In The Money’. And so it would seem with a healthy crowd gathering in the intimate Quay Theatre space on Wednesday evening.
The BBC Radio 4 and Live at the Apollo funnyman has made the transition from stand up comedy to personal financial advice – engaging with economics from the perspective of a comedian.
Instead of playing the victim, Evans resembles an investment banker – both in his attire of a black suit and his dark wit.
Throughout the evening, he covers supply and demand, the housing market, the value of gold and fractional reserve banking through anecdotes and analogies.
His stand up act plays out like a Daily Telegraph letter to the editor. And this is where he comes in conflict with this reviewer.
First and foremost, I read the Guardian (and of course, the excellent SalfordOnline.com).
Whilst he admits that he says “awful right-wing bigoted things with a cheerful demeanour”, his material – such as buying property – is lost on me as a leftwing recent graduate from Generation Rent.
There is no arguing that Simon Evans is an intelligent and charming comedian with a well-crafted show, but I fear that I am not his target audience.
His grumpy middle class rants are chucklesome and provide titters from me – but there is no ‘belly laugh’ moment.
The brutal asides are amusing and material on John Lennon filming the ‘Imagine’ music video in his mansion is inspired.
Evans works best when interacting with the audience. After his booming voice introduced the act, he went straight to the front row with humorous remarks about the crowd.
As though he and the Salford audience were weighing each other up in the first half, the interaction felt warmer and natural post interval.
This was my first encounter of Simon Evans and whilst I was appreciative of his talents, we were not using the same currency.
