13 – 15 May: Ronnie Edwards, Vince Fluke and Nick Wilty
Weightless sex, Arnold Schwarzehitler and getting your girlfriend to carry your plasma TV for you – tickets please, it's time for another round of CH-uckles shows!For this three-night run, there was a truly international line-up with a Canadian-Jamaican, a Swiss-Canadian and a good old fashioned Brit – wearing a cow-skin (not leather, actual cow-skin) jacket. As you do.
Ronnie Edwards took up the gauntlet laid down by inaugural host John Ryan and continued the high standards of compering that are fast becoming CH-uckles' trademark, teaching the audience a few words of Jamaican and even a little bit of Chinese, while learning how polite Swiss German ladies refer to their... well... they're usually to polite to refer to it at all, but Ronnie asked them anyway. And he got a few responses, the sly ol' devil!
The first half's main act was Vince Fluke (or Flücke, to use the name on his passport, Swiss identity card and now on his Swiss bank account). He was performing his first ever gigs in his (grandfather's) native Switzerland, though he admitted from the off: "I must be the worst Swiss person ever, I'm late and I don't even own a watch..." Vince's set evolved throughout the three shows, adapting more to the older audiences here at CH-uckles (average age around 35, I'd say. Ours is a broad church, all are welcome!), though the idea that he floated for a new papal selection process was perhaps a little close to the knuckle in the Catholic cantons!
Half-time, change ends and time for the joke competition. Ronnie suggested the same pairing for all three nights, and rightly so, since Tony Blair (him again) and Michael Jackson do make for a good combo. One thinks he's in touch with the youth of England, while the other... (come on, do I need to spell it out for you?!) One has had a ten-year affair with the public, while the other had a public affair with a 10-yea (snip! courtesy of CH-uckles' lawyers...) and finally, nothing, they're both white (fair enough – some of the best jokes are the most obvious ones!)
The second half's headline act was Nick Wilty, who over the three shows ranged from merely very good to absolutely on fire (depending on the strength of beer he'd been consuming throughout the day). Much of it was surreally brilliant, this reviewer's personal favourite being "Tickets please – it's not a request, just an opinion..." (think about it. And again. "Please" can be a verb as well, you see. Clever…) As with Vince, he adapted to his venue, with both of them enjoying the Burgbachkeller's arched hall ("I'd better get off stage, the 9.58 to Zurich's about to come through!")
After the three gigs, all of the comedians were more than happy to be plied with alcohol in the bar by CH-uckles punters and have a banter with them, with both Ronnie and Vince a particular hit with the ladies. Nick obviously wasn't interested, as he's a lesbian (hang on...)
This was the last show prior to the summer break (let's face it, you'd all rather be on the terrace of a bar, beer in one hand, nuts (salted) in the other, burping and leering down some young cutie's v-neck t-shirt. And as for the blokes among you, you just want to watch the cricket on cable TV...) so we'll be back once you've all got a tan. By then, the weather may be cooler, but with comedians like the six we've had so far, CH-uckles will definitely be a hot ticket...
