{"id":385,"date":"2018-03-01T22:04:24","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T22:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=385"},"modified":"2018-03-01T22:45:22","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T22:45:22","slug":"review-dave-spikey-a-juggler-on-a-motorbike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/01\/review-dave-spikey-a-juggler-on-a-motorbike\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: DAVE SPIKEY, A JUGGLER ON A MOTORBIKE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave Spikey played the Grand Theatre on the night of the first day of the industrial action. However, no mention of strikes, Brexit, Trump, or Boris in this act: the gathered throng was treated to two hours of beautifully crafted mini tales and sketches based around the story of his comedy career. Dave had been working in the NHS for 19 years as a Biomedical Scientist when in 1987 someone uttered the immortal words, ‘You\u2019re really funny, you should be a comedian’. Only a few months later he won the national talent show ‘Stairway to the Stars’, clinching the award with a routine about a juggler on a motorbike. Thirteen years later on Friday 13th October 2000, he switched off his microscope for good and now in 2017\/18 his tour celebrates the 30th anniversary of his comedy career. In the show, he looks back on his life and his journey from working class kid to Chief Biomedical Scientist to much-loved comedy performer and writer.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of this was populated with various larger than life characters \u2013 lots of references to his work on \u2018Phoenix Nights\u2019, which produced giggles of recognition from the audience. Very little swearing and when he did it was for effect, although many stories were quite filthy in a very British innuendo fashion. For a lot of the audience the trip down his childhood memory lane evoked a degree of nostalgic pleasure. This was all delivered in a down-to-earth \u2018Northern\u2019 way, his interplay and analysis the basis for clever, laugh-after-every-line comedy. He is not only a very funny accomplished comedian, but also one of the finest raconteurs around \u2013 your cultural correspondent cried with laughter on more than one occasion.<\/span><\/p>\n

The audience also gave your correspondent pause for thought. The packed theatre was full of white, predominantly older couples \u2013 leaving the Grand is always a slow affair but this evening seemed an even more laborious business. While not conducting a rigorous survey, your correspondent was also of the opinion that he was the only member of the audience employed by the University. Please write in to prove him wrong but this is not the first time that he has been struck by the different socio-demographic groups that attend the Dukes and the Grand, two theatres a hundred yards apart from each other.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dave Spikey played the Grand Theatre on the night of the first day of the industrial action. However, no mention of strikes, Brexit, Trump, or Boris in this act: the gathered throng was treated to two hours of beautifully crafted … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[161,235,236,233],"class_list":["post-385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-comedy","tag-dave-spikey","tag-grand-theatre","tag-issue-174"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-6d","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":459,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/15\/letters-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":385,"position":0},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 15 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, This week our VC wrote to tell us that Lancaster would have supported the ACAS deal. But it is also true Lancaster would have supported the original UUK\/USS proposal (perhaps reluctantly) which amounted to little less than criminal theft of our pensions. This week our VC also wrote\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":467,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/15\/review-courtney-pine-and-the-inner-city-ensemble\/","url_meta":{"origin":385,"position":1},"title":"REVIEW: COURTNEY PINE AND THE INNER CITY ENSEMBLE","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 15 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Following Dave Spikey\u2019s show at the Grand (subtext 174), your correspondent visited the same theatre to see quite a different artist a few days later, along with some familiar faces from Freehold and other Lancaster environs, plus some well-known faces from the University. They had come to see Courtney Pine.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "review"","block_context":{"text":"review","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":248,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/12\/07\/mark-thomas-a-show-that-gambles-on-the-future-a-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":385,"position":2},"title":"MARK THOMAS: A SHOW THAT GAMBLES ON THE FUTURE. A REVIEW","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"December 7 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Mark Thomas was back at the Dukes on Wednesday 29th November. After last year's poignant, moving and very funny theatre show 'The Red Shed' (see subtext 156) he returned to the Dukes with more traditional stand-up fare. This time it's just him, a microphone, a few scraps of paper and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "review"","block_context":{"text":"review","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":465,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/15\/review-milton-jones-is-out-there\/","url_meta":{"origin":385,"position":3},"title":"REVIEW: MILTON JONES IS OUT THERE","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 15 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Radio 4 listeners will be familiar with Milton Jones\u2019 surrealist sense of humour and endless stream of one-liners. Your cultural correspondent was curious as to whether his particular style of comedy would work in an extended format \u2013 he need not have worried, as he could barely stop laughing for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "review"","block_context":{"text":"review","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":159,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/11\/09\/queen-albert\/","url_meta":{"origin":385,"position":4},"title":"QUEEN ALBERT","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 9 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Your cultural correspondent squeezed into a packed Dukes on Monday (6th November) to watch a screening of 'The Death of Stalin' - a brilliant film, a creative mixture of grim and laugh out loud funny. This was followed by a question and answer session with one of the screenwriters on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "review"","block_context":{"text":"review","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/10\/12\/theatre-review-the-suitcase\/","url_meta":{"origin":385,"position":5},"title":"THEATRE REVIEW: THE SUITCASE","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 12 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Lancaster University had yet another works outing at the Dukes on the 28th September. Your correspondent is sure there were some people at the show who were not Lancaster University employees but that particular evening it did feel that they were very much in the minority. 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