During a holiday to visit a relative in England, I had the pleasure of seeing Shane in action in Newcastle city centre’s famous The Stand Comedy Club. It was a packed gig and we had seats right at the front.
Shane was brilliant and his one-liners had the audience in constant stitches for over an hour as he talked about his life’s experiences.
For me to say that Shane is top of the heap when it comes to Ulster comedians who have made a name for themselves in Ireland and the rest of the UK might seem slightly biased. But I am.
This is because Shane used to be one of my journalism students on the Higher National Diploma in Broadcast Journalism at what is now Belfast Metropolitan College’s Millfield Campus.
This wasn’t yesterday; it was several years ago, but even then I had an inkling that Shane was destined for a glittering career in standup comedy.
Even as a journalism student, I knew him to be the master of the one-liners. His time on our journalist training programme also coincided with a particularly challenging time in my life with my severely autistic son.
There were mornings when I arrived at Millfield after a long night with my son that I just wanted to cry. But being a lecturer in journalism means that you can’t drag your problems into the classroom.
Shane was to become a psychological crutch. I knew his love for standup comedy, so on the really bad days, I’d say to Shane before lectures began - ‘tell me a joke!’ And he would - and suddenly the day would be much, much brighter.
I have followed Shane’s career since he left the college to pursue a calling in standup comedy rather than investigative journalism - maybe that says more about my lecturing capabilities that one of my most memorable students I’ve had the privilege of teaching went into comedy rather than the media!
So what is the secret of Shane’s gripping appeal? It’s simple - he can take everyday issues which face us as an audience and turn them into a laugh a minute routine.
Many modern day standup comedians rely on the shock tactics of a host of expletives and bad language to amuse their audiences. Not Shane Todd. He has a natural story telling ability to communicate his gags with the minimum of swearing. His routine comes across as a conversation about life that constantly holds your attention; he has you hanging on every word.
I’m not suggesting Shane will get booked as the warm up act for this year’s Belfast General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, but his routines have the ability to generate a family atmosphere at his gigs.
Leading comedians like Jimmy Carr and Neil Delamere have perfected the art of interacting with their audiences. But what’s unique about Shane is that he’s able to hold the audience in the palm of his hand. The microphone becomes almost like a magic wand.
The audiences listen intently to him. He is the pied piper of comedy, and the audience members are his eager followers.
The pace of the routine is not quick fire, but he gently leads you through the story dropping in the one-liners, but all the time the audience remains gripped on every sentence.
The fact that there was a queue outside The Stand an hour before the gig kicked off is testament to Shane’s pulling power as a master of the standup routine. The Stand is one of the top comedy clubs not just in Tyneside, but across England as a whole.
The fact that Shane had it packed on a damp Sunday evening is also testament to his sheer professionalism. The photo with this column has Shane in the middle along with myself on the right and my eldest son, Daniel, on the left pictured inside The Stand comedy club.
Shane’s pulling power is almost hypnotic. There was no heckling from the audience during his gig.
In terms of standup strategies, while Jimmy Carr uses the ‘heckle amnesty’ to encourage banter from the audience, and Neil Delamere uses the ‘front row roasting’ to boost their routines, Shane uses his hypnotic presence on stage to maintain the interest of his audience. What you see, is what you get - a great night’s craic.
And just as he used to leave me in stitches when he was my student with his instant one-liners, so too, I left that comedy club very well satisfied that I’d had a great evening’s entertainment. I also left feeling very proud of the fact that I can boast - I taught Shane Todd!
But I still wonder what advice Shane would give me for my bucket list plan to heckle Jimmy Carr!
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| Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. |
Better to laugh than to cry - nice one John!
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