Jeremy Hardy performing stand-up

Turns out I've omitted a few small things, I should probably clear up in chronological order before continuing.

Jeremy Hardy on Stage: 7.3/10

Uno) A week before my birthday I went to see Jeremy Hardy perform his stand-up at Richmond Theatre, nice place, it was full, a few hundred people I'd say. Birthday present from Mi Padre. Using his typical 'Dad' sense of humour, he got me, him, his boyfriend and his ex seats on the front row. Typical, because I hate the front row. I like to go out to a show and be safe in the knowledge that I will be be a spectator only. Being within conversing range of the stand-up/comedy show makes me nervous, I'm not a particularly big fan of being pointed out and made a part of the act.

We got there in good time and ole Hardy came on. Being a BBC Radio 4 regular he used very political high brow humour, talking about the Richmond area, rich vs poor, socialism (his fav) the war, and getting old.
The getting old part was where the trouble started; Radio 4 caters for the older, more politically inclined Londoner, and I was the youngest person I saw by about a decade. So I get picked on, am designated the 'young one'. Things were going fine until he asked the obvious question: "How old are you?"

The following is what happened in my head within the space of 0.1 seconds:

"Holy Crap. Question time. How old am I? Easy, I'm..... . Wtf. I should know my bloody age by now, I've had over two decades to learn it. Man, theres loads of people in this room. Where was I? Ahh my age. Yes. Age. Age age age. Erm, well I'm more then 21, that was a good while ago. Not 25 yet am I? No that's way too old surely. God theres so many people here. How old am I?? Ok not cool. I need to answer. This is stand-up. If I don't answer within the second he's clearly going to take the piss. And in front of all these people. Probably a good million in this room. Well I'm here for my birthday right? So its probably a year less then the age I've been thinking about recently which will be what I'm going to become. So minus a year right? Right??? Quick say something. Tell him your age, Quick! Quick!!!!! Before its too late! Last chance. Go for it. Take your best shot. Do it, DO IT!!!!"

"I'm 22."

SHIT. I'm 23. Well 24 really. I spent the next 15 minutes of the show constructing my new 22 year old life in my mind. Telling myself I was born in 1987, not 1986. Just in case he came back with a pop quiz for some random entertainment. The bad thing is this show was apparently recorded for Radio 4. I was initially quite happy at the thought of being part of the crowd in a packed show. Shame I was the only guy in the room to tell the audience I WASN'T there.

"Hey I was on the radio the other day, I was at the Jeremy Hardy gig, I was the one he picked on, it was cool!"
"Ahh yeah, you're the 22 year old right!?"
"Well I just turned 24 actually..."
"Ahhh..ok..."
"It was me though! You believe me right!?"
"Yeah...sure....(nutcase).."

Brilliant. The show was very good otherwise. The humour was interesting and on the whole, pretty funny. I liked his over the top 'left-wing-ism' and he had the necessary confidence to pull it all off. There were a couple of lulls in the laughter but I suppose it's to be expected considering he seemed to make a lot of it off the cuff. And in that respect it was pretty impressive. His anti-war tirade came off a bit disrespectful to the men out there, despite him saying he respected them intensely, but on the whole it was on the right side of acceptable.

So meh, deserved a good but not remarkable score. Seemed like a nice guy though. I would see him again for a good price..