25 - 27 February 2008: David Ward, Steve Best and Harvey Oliver
CH-uckles? Heckles more like! Yup, the audiences were on feisty form as CH-uckles was back for another three-nighter, this time with what looks like a definitive solution to that tricky venue problem!The Burgbachkeller in Zug got proceedings under way, with compere Dave Ward taking to the stage and warming things up to perfection for opening act Harvey Oliver. And this was where things started to get a little hairy... Harvey is a laid-back, old school comedian who lets his jokes do the talking, but it was difficult for his gags to get a word in edgeways with an ebullient audience mainly comprising tetchy Teutons, all looking to enjoy some verbal cut-and-thrust with the laconic Londoner, who rose to the occasion marvellously.
The joke competition was not surprisingly as topical as ever, with Hillary Clinton being the famous figure of choice, and being coupled with a spatula, there were plenty of early morning sausage-tossing metaphors to go round. The winning entry on Monday however took the mickey out of the hecklers, sorry "audience participation", and rightly scooped the enormous Cadbury's Easter egg kindly provided by sponsors Britshop.
Steve Best was Monday's headline act, and he certainly was a headline, in bold type with capital letters, exclamation marks and all. He mixed slapstick with verbal freeform, strummed the guitar and used his props to comic perfection – even the hecklers were dumbfounded!
On the Tuesday night, it was off to a new Zug venue, the Chicago bar. The night was a great success with over 50 people enjoying the laid-back atmosphere (and food and drink) and of course more of the same on the top-quality comedy front. It's early days, but safe to say that CH-uckles will be back at Chicago for a lot more shows in the near future.
The concluding show in the run was at the traditional Zurich venue of Maiers - Dave was again a genial host, making all-comers welcome, and Steve's nonsensical visuals and verbals also hit the mark. This time around it was Harvey who headlined the second half, and after cutting his teeth as far as Swiss audiences are concerned on the Monday and Tuesday nights, he was ready for anything that Zurich crowd could throw at him by the Wednesday. And throw they did, from the not-so-undercover German spy (looking to unearth some tax fraudsters) to the irate lady from Central Switzerland who didn't take kindly to having her home town made into a figure of fun. Harvey took them all in his stride and is as we speak applying to join the Baar tourist board as a rep. Just don't ask him about the Baarer nightlife ("she moved to Lucerne last week apparently...")
CH-uckles will be back with another run of shows in April. Give the Chicago bar in Zug a try – after all, it's got beer, food and comedy – what more could you want?
