Review: Roy Chubby Brown, Oakengates Theatre

Roy Chubby Brown, as he likes to remind everyone, has been in the business for 43 years now, and at Oakengates Theatre @ The Place last night, it showed.

The best and worst of Chubby was on show with some brilliant, witty one liners, followed up by old, risque jokes.

The crowd was as raucous as anyone would expect, especially at a show that encourages them to sing a well-known football chant as Chubby walks on stage.

Those years on the comedy circuit show as he handles the crowd excellently, ignoring much of the talking, and quickly putting down any hecklers with some well-rehearsed quips and comebacks, sometimes clever, sometimes harsh.

His potty-mouth is known far and wideand subjects discussed range from his wives, children and music to driving, sex and, ahem, foreign policy and pretty much everything in between.

For all his scathing attacks on nearly everyone in the audience, if not the world, Chubby gives himself just as much stick as anyone else.

In the short, frequent piano breaks, his music mirrors his comedy style; crude, simple and effective. His songs range from his biggest hit 'Alice' to a rap he made for the younger members of his audience.

It's clear that Chubby has found his niche and has stuck to it for a long time, he admits himself that he has about four million jokes, but how many of those are his are questionable, some of them older than time itself.

Jon Pritchard