Jo’s a no-show as the Comedy Shop hits Motherwell

May 9 2008 By Graham Fraser

THE Comedy Shop 2008 Tour stopped off at Motherwell Theatre last Friday night.

Brendan Riley, Phil Walker and Manuel Martinez were the three comedians who treated the large crowd.

However, many in the audience, including this reviewer, were a little perplexed at the absence of Jo Caulfield.

The Have I Got News For You and Mock The Week regular was advertised to appear in the show but she was sadly absent.

There was no public announcement to explain why and some reports have even suggested that the venue itself did not know she was going to miss Motherwell until half-way through the show.

Despite repeated attempts to find out why Ms Caulfield failed to perform in the town, her agent did not get back to the Advertiser this week.

However, her absence did not spoil this evening, which featured three very talented and varied acts.

Hosted by Scottish funnyman John Gillick, the show kicked off with Phil Walker, whose amusing anecdotes on Heather Mills and Michael Jackson were enjoyed by the crowd.

Manuel Martinez then took to the stage to deliver a very different type of comedy.

Martinez, who professes to be Cuba’s second biggest export after cigars, was brilliant as a cheesy magician.

Great comic performers make their audience part of the show and Martinez was no different.

He picked out Airdrie girl Rae to help him with his tricks.

But our Rae was not the most willing participant and Martinez proceeded to poke fun at her for the remainder of the evening.

Liverpudlian comedian Brendan Riley was the third act.

The close connections between the cultures of Liverpool and Glasgow endeared him to the crowd.

His set resolved around two main issues; his native Liverpool, and the differences between ourselves and our friends from the USA. While his joke about enthusiastic American audiences was good, his take on a Liverpudlian ‘scallie’ throwing stones at birds was absolutely brilliant.

With the absence of Ms Caulfield, Manuel Martinez then returned to the stage (to groans from Rae, I’m sure!)

After asking the audience about their favourite films, he decided to act out a famous scene from his own fave — Alien.

But it was no alien that burst out his stomach, it was Michael Jackson with some smooth dance moves.

Unfortunately the sound man wasn’t on the same page; Martinez had to stop his comical song to ask for the music to be replayed, but it was still good fun.