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Andy Parsons

I first heard of Andy Parsons when he was on Radio 2 in the early naughties with Parsons and Naylor’s Pull-out Section. That’s also where I first encountered the marvelous Lucy Porter. I have of course since seen him on Mock the Week, etc. and he’s a very funny guy.

Tonight at the Playhouse in Norwich, Andy Parsons had the whole audience laughing from beginning to end. I really like the fact that at the moment most comedians seem to be out on the road on their own. This means you get two halves with the same comedian and don’t have to suffer some unknown before getting to a set that isn’t long enough from the main act after the interval. It also appears to be the done thing for comedians to do their own intro from off stage as well. This feels rather narcissistic to me, but is often very funny.

Observational humour is so much better when you can relate to it and Andy Parsons described much that I could relate to. He’s more than just an unusual voice. I have often been frustrated by so called security measures when phoning banks, especially if they’ve called me! And I recently had a trip to the doctors where he told me plenty I didn’t want to hear. I wish I had a quiet place where I could hide, like Andy does. The only criticism I have of Andy Parsons is that he uses the F word far too often (which at least one friend of mine has said is a bit rich coming from me). There was of course the obligatory single use of the C word as well and he did a joke about car number plates that was identical to part of Lucy Porter’s set the week before.

When Andy Parsons comes back to Norwich, I think we’ll be back to see him.

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