Talented Welsh comedian Lloyd Langford has the infectious ability to find hilarity and absurdity in the banality of his everyday routine. The ‘one day’ that is the subject of Langford’s stand up does not chronicle any heroic deed or momentous occasion, but rather the journey from his flat to the corner shop in South Ealing, that he undertook in order to buy some bread.
The best stand-up comedians can find cause for mirth in the most prosaic of scenarios and Langford certainly has this gift, always bringing the audience back to the local and familiar. There are not many performers who could keep a fifteen minute monologue on the diverse range of supermarket bread amusing and engaging, but Langford can. His slow and ruminating style was not particularly energised but the overarching narrative of the trip to buy bread maintained the pace and progression of his story telling. The subject matter was endlessly going down different intriguing avenues as Langford got distracted, but invariably returned to this tale, rendering the transition from topic to topic seamless and natural.
There were some truly inspired one-liners that I imagine some of us will be quoting for years to come and Langford handled the obligatory interaction with the audience with wit and ingenuity. Occasionally his comedy lapsed into the puerile and grotesque (particularly when he was discussing a stag-do on a canal boat) but by that point he had so endeared himself to the audience it didn’t matter. They loved all of it.
So head down to the Assembly rooms this week for an hour of Welsh wit and charm and some thought-provoking insights into the pointlessness of Toastie bread.
