Will Sidgwick is very new to stand up, having been on the scene for under a year and he clearly has a lot to learn about material and originality. That said, he has a confident and assured manner, even when some jokes - like one about the Boston Bombings - clearly miss their mark. He dealt with a reactionless audience like a true comedy pro: by taking a sip from his pint and moving on swiftly. The twenty or so people in for his free stand-up gig managed a chuckle and smile and were on side. This shows Sidgwick has an affable and engaging manner.
The issue is that most of Sidgwick’s material is unoriginal; he spent the first fifteen minutes introducing himself, attempting to describe the surrealism of his physical presence at the gig. I knew where he was trying to go with this, but it just didn’t work. Instead, it was long-winded and repetitive.
He hasn’t got an angle on the craft and jokes about Bono and his sunglasses are really old hat. Two segments managed to amuse though. The first gave a glimpse of his musical theatre and acting days; here he stepped out and gave us a superb hammed-up vignette from Edwin Drood. This insight into his life as a musical theatre student is unusual and definitely something he should delve into more.
The other fun aspect was when he picked an audience member to imitate a fake plant and then convinced him to play someone else to progress the show. It worked well, but the execution needs to be clearer. There was plenty of scope in his patter for references to news, Edinburgh, or anything current, but he chose not to go there. Instead he concentrated on his life as an aspiring comedian and dissected the rules of comedy: yawn.
Will needs to work hard on finding good material and a fresh take on said material. I would like to see him in two years as he has decent flow and great comic promise.
