Darren Harriott, The Glee Club, Birmingham – review and pictures

Growing up in Oldbury and having worked the doors in Birmingham as a bouncer in later life, his extremely funny look back on his childhood, teenage years and adult life was so relatable.

First up though at the Glee Club in Birmingham on Friday night was his friend and warm-up act, Jay Handley, who really was a no-holds-barred comedian.

Nothing was off the menu and some of his jokes even made me wince, which, trust me, takes a lot.

Jesus, Muslims, dating a Nigerian and penis transplants. They all got a mention – and that’s probably about as far as this review can go without getting the paper into trouble.

His talent really shone, however, when there was a temporary power cut, which took out the stage lights.

Luckily some rowdy ladies from Swansea, who were later ejected, gave him plenty of material while the problem was sorted.

Then it was then time for Harriott, the local boy who has seen his career take off in recent years, with shows on Radio 4, Dave and the BBC, to name a few.

Having just turned 31, it’s quite scary in a way how far his comedy could go, but his style is so laid back and chatty, it almost feels like he’s speaking directly to you.

That’s because while he’s addressing the entire audience, it seems like he’s just having a normal conversation, like you would with a friend in a pub.

It was perhaps the tales of his youth that I could relate to the most. Whether you followed the likes of S Club 7 or So Solid Crew, it eventually helped shape your life.

Being a chubby kid in my younger days, his stories of playing kiss chase, where no-one ever chased you and the girls ran as fast as they could to escape you, brought home some ‘wonderful’ memories.

I know, you can get the violins out later . . .

And yet, despite his growing fame and popularity, Harriott revealed he had still never been in love – but then again, it wasn’t as bad his friend and warm up act, Jay, who he revealed had not yet tried a Cornetto. What the hell is all that about?

Growing up, music clearly played quite a big part in Harriott’s life, particularly R Kelly, which brought us to another real-world dilemma, a bit like with Michael Jackson’s music.

It’s the moment you have to ask yourself ‘am I okay to dance to this music?’. It seems most of Harriott’s family choose to live in denial and dance the night away.

His childhood was enjoyable but different. As he puts it, his family tree would probably be the shape of a cannabis plant.

His mother was always working hard, never told him she loved him, but he knew she was always there for him.

She loved to feed him, so much so he was an obese kid. but who doesn’t love their food as a child? Again, it was another tale I could really relate to.

We then got into the real knitting-gritty of life’s big questions, which included why Mr Tickle – of Mr Men fame – was deemed to be okay, despite the fact he clearly groped people, and how strange it was now he seemed to have disappeared from all the library book shelves. He should return as Mr Consent, as Harriott so aptly put it.

And then there was the issue of sending sexually-inappropriate pictures to ‘companions’ using your mobile phone, and how that wasn’t a problem when he was growing up as back then you had to pay a lot of money to send such a message.

It wasn’t deemed value for money. It was a more simple life for us growing up.

Liam Neeson’s famous random rant, about how he wanted to kill any black man because his friend had been raped, which Harriott explained would have been even more chilling back then, if you’d been one of probably two black men wondering the streets of Northern Ireland back in the 1970s, and David Attenborough fighting for the world’s survival, all while selling his shows to the public on plastic-coated DVDs.

All the big issues of the day were covered.

There was so much more to his act and it’s fair to say I was pretty much laughing from start to finish.

Bizarrely, I also managed to get a shout out for my sister. She happens to know his auntie and painted a superb portrait of him for his birthday.

They’d never met but when he asked if anyone had any questions at the end of his superb show, my hand shot up.

“You’re not gonna swear at me, are you?” he asked.

But when I explained who my sister was, he was very appreciative and it really rounded off a brilliant night.

I love the intimate nature of the Glee Club and when a local comic takes you a trip down memory lane, all while keeping a big smile plastered across your face for more than an hour, it really makes for a superb Friday night.