If someone were to tell you they had just been to a show where everything was done back-to-front and repeated, you would probably assume that they had been to see some very messy and badly organised theatre production. However, the E4 Udderbelly Podcalf is one such show which essentially has to be a little bit messy in order to achieve its end goal of a perfectly edited podcast for its listeners. For the audience present at the show it’s quite a bizarre experience but, in a way, quite fun to be a part of.
Sparky host Richard Melvin introduces the show and explains how it works before inviting a few comedians onstage to give the audience a taste of their own shows. First up was Dan Nightingale with his loud personality and in-yer-face humour. He seems like the kind of bloke that guys would love to hang out with at the pub, with the guarantee of a laugh with their pint. Next on was David Whitney who seemed a little bit hungover but still held his own and delivered some snippets from his show ‘Struggling to Evolve’, much to the audience’s amusement.
The highlight of the show was definitely the boisterous Martin Mor whose first port of call was to make a young teenager swear in front of his own family before delivering some of his own shocking-yet-hilarious material. Melvin returned to the stage for a quick chat with Mor and then invited American comedian and actor Eddie Pepitone, curly haired Carl Donnelly and blond bombshell Laura Hayden onstage to chat with them about their own shows and how they’ve spent their extra time at the festival.
After some music entertainment from the wonderfully weird Wilfredo, Melvin recorded some links during which the audience welcomed onstage acts who had already been and gone - a weird experience but we happily co-operated, knowing that it was for the good of the podcast; during the festival it has gone to number two in the iTunes podcast chart. Not bad.
