New comedy night at the Dome '“ '˜Gold from get go to the let go'

Live at Brighton Dome is a new comedy night, which it's hoped will become a quarterly fixture at the eponymous venue.
Kiri-Pritchard McCleanKiri-Pritchard McClean
Kiri-Pritchard McClean

The opening show on February 3 featured the hugely talented stand-up and playwright Daniel Kitson.

Publicly-shy Kitson has been a regular and popular visitor to Brighton over the past 15 years and despite a self-imposed press purdah has carved out a loyal following and praise from the critics he’s chosen to shun.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Although he told the 1,300-strong audience ‘he was worse than no-one at all’ as a replacement for the originally billed Rob Delaney, he was in exceptionally fine fettle in compere mode. With the ‘performance chops’ to handle a heckler without breaking sweat, he was also very likeable, absurdly articulate and rapid with his inventive responses to the crowd.

Opening act Nish Kumar’s stock has risen of late and he’s becoming a familiar face on the haunted fish tank, so much so that the political comic recently found himself on the panel of Question Time. His set was unsurprisingly Brexit-heavy and he said his recent gigs have been ‘tricky 52 per cent of the time’. There were no such issues in the liberal hinterland of Brighton but equally his material didn’t ever seem like it would send the Dome crowd into the streets to man the barricades.

Perhaps politics in 2018 is beyond satire? Or maybe he was going easy on a Saturday night crowd? But material beyond Piers Morgan and Nigel Farage wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Kiri-Pritchard McClean was fun, earthy and what tabloid caption writers might describe as ‘flaunting her sexuality’. The tales of good times and extreme depilation were vivid, hilarious and especially popular with those in the audience without the Y chromosomes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Tim Key was a beguiling blitzkrieg of performance class to end proceedings. A succession of arch and brilliant short poems were flung at the audience by the dazzling performance poet. On stage he’s a world away from his bumbling small-screen roles and voice-over ad duties. He was at the top of his game and a worthy headliner.