Being a sucker for fabulous vocab and brilliantly-delivered stories, Wrigglesworth (how could one NOT become something comedic with a surname THAT tremendous?) managed to weave together phrases as he told his tale that, well, just worked…
Tom Wrigglesworth (Sheffield, UK) in his show, ‘Tom Wrigglesworth’
–NZ International Comedy Festival 2010
This gangly Brit, sporting a glorious, golden, ringlet-strewn bob and brandishing a wondrous Roman nose to boot, is the master of the quick phrase; economical, too.
Being a sucker for fabulous vocab and brilliantly-delivered stories, Wrigglesworth (how could one NOT become something comedic with a surname THAT tremendous?) managed to weave together phrases as he told his tale that, well, just worked. Several, I managed to scrawl:
‘An equinox of joy erupted…’
‘’What’s it got to do with me? I quite like grannies –they’re a harmless lot; their opinions, refreshingly bigoted.’
‘…..they’re lighthouses of stupidity, to guide us through life.’
And all executed pretty well – a smidge reminiscent of Black Adder’s timing, in fact. Heart-warming and engaging throughout,
Wrigglesworth, from Sheffield, Yorkshire, won the comedy newcomer award ‘So You Think You’re Funny?’ at the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe, has performed with Tom Allen, fellow comedian in a show in 2006 and in 2009 he was nominated for the main Edinburgh Comedy Award and has received a string of 5-star reviews. Impressive.
At the NZ International Comedy Festival, Wrigglesworth is presenting a show about the scandal of UK rail fares and divulges the specific case (fact IS stranger than fiction) of a harmless granny, who was charged at peak price (over 100 quid) when caught without a valid ticket on an off-peak Manchester-London, Virgin train journey. What a guy, Wrigglesworth is, as he attempts to save the day, but this sets off a chain of events which finds the comedian railing against the ticket collector onboard, heading to the cop shop and meeting a myriad of folk in the process.
Wrigglesworth deftly executes the standard standup trick –that of weaving previous jokes into the tale as it unravels, and he does so most effectively. He does digress and favours simile like it’s going out of fashion; though ‘dodging like lava lamp’ was nice.
Wrigglesworth managed to complete his hour-long show without a microphone, (‘I can feel the gig capsizing as we speak’) because the crackling chord was sending him round the bend and he aborted it in favour of good, old-fashioned vocal projection. Ra, ra Wrigglesworth!! A man with not only a problem, but a solution too – like he says, Newton’s laws of motion states: ‘Each action has an equal and opposite REaction.’
Favourite line from the show: ‘It dawned on me that I was spotting the trainspotters.’
Thanks, Tom for a rollicking hour. You not only entertained, never quite managing to tame your bob into submission as you pushed it half-heartedly behind your ears, but you showed us that the common comedian from a mining town, really CAN make a difference.
Wrigglesworth gets my vote – with sharp observations and well-delivered stories, one feels relaxed enough to be taken for the ride.
If I may be so bold as to use the Virgin ethos, as we pull into the station –YOU (WRIGGLESWORTH) EXCEED ALL EXPECTATION.
Catherine Pittams
May 2010
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