Hey Frankie, leave them kids alone!

Kevin Bridges has begun a 13 week run at The Stand comedy club in Glasgow.  As a compere for three other Scottish comedians on Sunday, Bridges was at his affable best.  His gentle ‘funny guy at the pub’ humour was the perfect beginning to an afternoon of bank holiday comedy.  Interaction with the audience (I’m sure Frank in the front row will have been delighted at his role in the show) was the cornerstone of his performance and his insightful ad-libs about Scottish life firmly bolstered his role as man of the people.

Imagine the crowd’s surprise then when the first of the special guests for the day swaggered on to the stage:  the arrival of an unshaven and tracksuit-clad Frankie Boyle changed the atmosphere enormously.  If Bridges started the show delicately then what followed could only be described as a one-way comedic assault.  Gone was the audience participation with one member of the front row (who was slightly ruining the ambience with her running commentary and overt stalking of Bridges) being told by Boyle, “Don’t think you’re involved in something, you’re not. Shut up.”  While this comment did gather a raucous cheer, the provocative comic had set out his stall for the day.

Boyle was again robust in his dismissal of the controversial joke he made about the disabled son of glamour model Jordan being capable of sexual assaulting her.  He first claimed that due to Harvey’s visual impairment he was unlikely to have witnessed the show in the first place and then that “I’m getting blamed for people bullying Harvey. But I don’t believe kids at his school wanted to bully him and until now were struggling for an angle.”  It was hard to decipher which of those around were gasping and which were giggling nervously, what is certain was that if it was a reaction he was after, a reaction was what he got.

Those with disabilities were not out of the woods yet with Boyle also choosing to share the tale of a quadriplegic man who had swam the Thames for charity quipping that it would have been funny if he’d emerged from the water and shouted “shark!” The roars of laughter in the wake of this were much more identifiable and symbolic of a change in the tide.

Reneging on his public decision to stop touring all together, Boyle claimed to be “testing” new material on this group of boozed up Glaswegian guinea pigs.  The result?  A good deal more laughs than gasps and wild applause as he exited.  This comedian is arguably unrivalled in terms of sharpness and intemperate material in Scotland and he has made it clear that he will not be censored or silenced.

What is less clear is whether he will be able to gather these laughs elsewhere than from an excitable hometown crowd. It may depend on where he targets his vitriol. Celebrities or politicians are fair game but one too many jokes at the expense of disabled kids does leave a bad taste in the mouth.  It would be a tragedy if Boyle’s quest for controversy eclipsed his vigorous talent.