Micky Flanagan, Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham - review
As I walked home after seeing Micky Flanagan live for the first time I had a huge sense of relief I hadn’t gone with my mother.
That’s because prior to this week’s show at the Barclaycard Arena my only experiences of his stand-up work were his famous ‘out out’ and ‘peeping’ gags, neither of which are particularly racy.
But this was an altogether more adult affair.
Changing sexual habits and pornography are among the unfiltered x-rated material which are expertly delivered by cheeky chappy Flanagan.
The ‘c-bomb’ is frequently used prompting gasps from more restrained audience members and hysterical laughter from most.
Neither is Flanagan at all politically correct. Racial minorities and “thick as s*** families” are the butt of jokes as the 54-year-old works the crowd like putty in his hands.
All of this is why I was glad to be sitting next to my friend and not my mother.
But it is not to say she wouldn’t have thoroughly enjoyed the show just as much as I did. Being roughly the same age as Flanagan, the majority of the gags were in fact aimed at her generation.
He draws on all his experiences from the 1970s and 1980s and his years outside of the comedy mainstream growing up on a council estate in London.
And he jokes about the perils of growing older including a rib busting section on his reduced control over his bodily functions.
The scale of Flanagan’s arena tour following his rise to notoriety from appearances on Mock the Week and 8 Out of 10 Cats shows just how far he has come from his early life when he worked as both a dishwasher and a window cleaner.
And one of the running themes throughout is his arrogant depiction of his current wealth.
To end the evening his final routine is an hilarious tale of his time on a Saga holiday including a superb comparison of himself to fictional character Poldark.
And while I wouldn’t expect any of the gags to have the long-term success of ‘out out’, the An Another Fing … tour has something for almost everyone and those who have seen him on TV or on previous tours will not go home disappointed.
Flanagan is again at the Barclaycard Arena this evening (SAT) and returns to the Birmingham arena for three nights in June.
