TIM VINE - SO I SAID TO THIS BLOKE...

A man walked into a pub and asked the barman 'What? Is this supposed to be a joke?'. In turn, the barman replied back to the man by saying to him 'No. You came in here in the first place, mate. I didn't ask for your custom'. Now if you don't want to hear how this inane parable ends, then for God's sake, don't watch this 65 minute stand-up gig recorded in 2008. Trust me. It won't help.


Tim Vine - Live - So I Said To This Bloke

THE STORY:

Now what funny-faced stand-up comic would sing a few songs, tell a lot of jokes, and then use whatever is at hand to make his audience laugh with glee? No. It's not Flag Hippo! He's too random. It's the funny-faced stand-up comic, Tim Vine, of course.

Here, check out some of the stuff Tim comes up with during his fun-filled hour full of props, mirth, and random humour, which plays around with the English language more than a monkey his own poo.

 

• Weak head. Weak back. Weekend.
• I'm afraid to say that that this was the last wig in the wig-shop. It was the last of the Mohicans.
• One armed-butler's: They can give it; they just can't take it back.
• This is an alphabet hand-grenade. If it goes off, it could spell disaster.
• The advantage of easy origami is two-fold.
• During the war my Grandfather couldn't stop scribbling. He was hit by a doodle-bug.
• My Mother used to relentlessly beat me with the telephone. I was always on the receiving end.
• On a DVD there was an option that stated 'deleted scenes'. When I had a look, there was nothing there.
• Ahhhh! Bzzzzz. R and B.
• I said to this bloke 'Do you know that Marie Osmond is going to star in the worst movie ever made?'. He said 'Warn her brothers?'. I said 'I think so'.
• If you put a frog on a trampoline, do they cancel each other out?
• My local police chief did a talk on heroin. Nobody could understand a word he said.
• What do you call someone from Corsica? Course-you-can.
• Left leg, right leg. Left leg, right leg. That's my running order.
• My vicar suddenly disappeared, so I called missing parsons.
• I'm on the Oliver Twist diet. Oh! It's gruelling.
• A lot of people turn their noses up at cosmetic surgery.
• From now on I'm only going to buy records and not CD's. And that vinyl!
• Do you know what's the same value as gold? Gold.

In closing his show, Tim prepares his audience for his big... FINISH... by telling them a poem about a hopping God, before he himself then hops off of the stage, to his dressing-room far-far below the auditorium. Bless. 

THE REVIEW:

Off the bat, please let me just state for the record that 'Tim Vine - So I Said to This Bloke', was so funny, that I had to watch it twice because I was laughing so much whilst I was watching it. Honestly. This not so live gig was so relentless in the telling of jokes, on occasion I had to have a drink because my throat became rather dry with all of my yelping.

Granted, there were a couple of things that weren't to my own particular tastes. Like some of the cheesy songs for instance, or that bit where Tim tried to catch a pen behind his ear for about five minutes of stage-time. Apart from that though -- nah -- this was a really-really happy hour chock-full of witty word play and silly humor, which I felt was a 'laugh riot' through and through.

Hey! Before I praise Mister Vine too much, here, check out some of these facts for some back-story of this clever-comic. (1) The one and only Timothy Mark Vine, was born on the same day that the Swiss mathematician, Michel Plancherel, died -- the 4th of March, 1967. (2) I kid you not; Tim's brother, Jeremy Vine, is a journalist, plus one the presenters on my most favourite quiz show, 'Egg Heads'. Also, they both attended the same public school in Surrey -- Epsom College. (3) Prior to the Australian comedian, Anthony "Lehmo" Lehmann, Tim held the Guinness World Record for telling the most Jokes within a single hour, 499. (4) Tim's first television appearance was in Rik Mayall's 2002 sit-com called 'Believe Nothing'. (5) Although Tim was awarded second place for having the 'best joke' in the 2011 and 2012 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, he did manage to come first place in 2010. (6) Not only was Mister Vine inspired into becoming a comedian by the late great Tommy Cooper, but some of Tim's jokes were included in a West End production about the aforementioned Mister C. (7) In 2011 Tim produced, directed, and starred in his own straight to video comedy extravaganza, entitled 'Tim Vine: The Joke-amotive Live'. (8) Now how can Timmy boy not have his own website -- www.timvine.com

Now if I may, there were two pieces of trivia within my trivia-splurge I'd like to draw your attention to.

Firstly, I would like to say that in my own opinion Tim's style of comedy is very much like Tommy Coopers. It's silly. It's cheesy. And it has a self-deprecating manner that's very associative by nature. Straight up. Tim just gives the impression that what he's doing is very-very jovial. Plus he only draws any attention to it in glances and wry comments, whenever he feels the need to engage with his audience.

And secondly, here and there Tim's one liners and witty word play can be so 'full on', for those of you who are not as mentally ambidextrous as I am, it could be very hard for you to keep up with. Listen, I'm not trying to imply that 'thick people' can't follow his act. No. Of course not. What I'm trying to say is that his fast paced delivery can be somewhat 'top heavy' on occasion, making his gibes come across like a pit-patter of a train speeding down a railroad-track.

Overall though, 'Tim Vine - So I Said to This Bloke' is a really funny show to watch. Try to think of it as modern day version of Tommy Cooper's shtick, and I'm sure that you know where I'm coming from. Don't you agree, Tim?

Err? I think that was a 'yes'.

 

THE RATING: B+