LUTON-BORN Simon Evans brought his ‘In the Money’ tour to The Lowry Theatre in Salford on Wednesday night (September 28) in an attempt to blend comedy with a subject he’s clearly well versed in – economics.
This show was initially scheduled for Tuesday September 20 and the rearrangement did affect attendance inside the Quays theatre, which was at comfortably less than half of its 440 people capacity.
Evans did however seize the opportunity to spin comedy out of the situation, his opening gambit being ‘thanks for coming’ before pausing to add ‘those of you who did’ making light of what could have been an elephant in the room (or not in the room in this case).
The show was split into two clear sections, the first of which being Evans, a veteran of the comedy scene now, exploring some of his polished material that has been to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and back since he last set foot in Salford in mid-February.
He touched on his family, life in Hove and why you shouldn’t bring anything you’ve grown to a dinner party in what was 45 minutes of perfectly enjoyable comedy seemingly without direction.
Thank you @TheSimonEvans for a lovely evening of giggles and laughs. Also the @The_Lowry for a really good pre chuckle burger.
— Rob Applin (@RobertApplin) September 28, 2016
Although his comedic style is more talkative, Evans’ way with words makes even his ramblings humorous to his fan base.
The 51-year-old showed he still had an eye for the odd one liner, ‘I often have to pick the kids up’ he stated ‘I find a line of coke does the trick’ was one such joke that went down well with those in the stalls.
But it was the second act in which Evans came into his own, if anyone was sceptical of whether merging comedy with financial advice was itself advisable then they knew they were in safe hands as soon as he had remarked he had tips for those wishing to ‘refinance their yacht’ and those who needed to ‘get wonga off their back’ which he addressed to a gentleman in the front row who he felt most matched that description.
Evans’ second half routine was in many ways unlike anything I’ve ever seen in comedy before, if you’d shown a group of accountancy students Evans’ last 40 minutes or so they would have made copious notes that they’d find very useful.
The topics of gearing, property value, supply and demand and investments were all touched on with no shortage of detail yet in a way I cannot fully explain; it was funny.
It was in essence an amusing lecture with Evans everyone’s favourite lecturer.
@TheSimonEvans absolutely superb tonight, great gig #karatevsknitting
— Matt Haynes (@VanishHaynes) September 29, 2016
A lot of Evans’ comedy stems from his family, something he’s proud to admit and there was quite a lovely moment where he spoke of the time he met the woman who would become his wife when she became his lodger but just before everyone said ‘aww’ he joked that she was low on rent and one thing led to another and now they’re married…
Evans’ many years of comedy allowed him to successfully negotiate his way around the lights inexplicably coming on part-way through the second half, he quipped it felt like ‘This is Your Life’ a reference which worked wonders with an audience similar in age to Evans.
The comic is far from a relic however, he even referenced the new phenomenon Pokemon Go towards the end of his set showing he can still mix it with the newer comedians but why would he want to?
Speaking to a couple after the performance they said they’d been fans of Evans for a decade now, they were happy to cancel plans to attend this show even though it was rearranged at late notice.
When he took his final bows Evans was very sincere in his thanking of the Salford crowd, he said he could come out front and try and shift a few of his latest DVD’s but they were cheaper online and he didn’t want to short-change his fans and I believed him.
He left the stage and vowed to return next year where I imagine most if not all of the same faces in the crowd will do the same.
Overall it wasn’t the single greatest night of comedy I’ve been to, it wasn’t side-splittingly funny but that was never the point, if you want a bombardment of jokes every 10 seconds then Evans isn’t your man but he’s a great storyteller, a wordsmith and a pleasure to watch live.
By Jordan Davies
@jordandavies09
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