February in Norwich Comedy Crypt - Mr White's Overview

Comedy! You may have noticed that we - Mr Mason and I of White Mason Reviews, that is - have taken it upon ourselves to bring our scrutinising eyes upon the comedic jaunts gracing Norwich on more than one occasion. Indeed, although it is Gonzo's Comedy Night that most frequently tickles our funny-bones, it would be remiss to not turn our attention to another venue of japes rising in our midst.

Your humble scribe speaks of the Comedy Crypt - a monthly event in which the rising starlets of the UK comic scene pile into a dank medieval cellar with a variety of inebriated people. It's significantly more fun - and significantly less sinister - than it sounds.

Furthermore, it is with a heavy heart that one must chronicle that alternative happenstances and an altogether busy week (Aroma, rum, pirates, girls dressed as pirates) saw Mr Mason and I unable to attend our beloved Gonzo's Comedy Night for February. Did you attend? We hope you did, and we hope it went well.

Either way, with local hotshot Nelson T Gombakomba Junior taking the stage as headliner for the Comedy Crypt of 18th February 2016 - flanked by a roster of familiar and unknown talent besides - it was apparent that some White Mason Reviews perspective was in order. With Mr Mason alternatively engaged, it fell to Mr White alone - ever your ebon-and-crimson chronicler - to slink into the crypt like an eel into a catflap. Except unlike an eel that has just travelled through a catflap, I did not flounder about the place and then embarrassingly die - no no, I instead evaluated the evening's shenanigans for later tabulation, just like eels don't, due to their lack of writing appendages and general disinclination to hold an analytical mindset regarding the performing arts.

However! You know the rules! For a full comedy review, both Mr Mason and Mr White need be present, that our contrasting analysis capabilities be brought to bear. Given that only I was present, this shall be but an overview of proceedings, as utterly enjoyable as they were, in earnest hope of attending again come March, alongside the erstwhile Teege.

Yes, it was that good - in fact, the TL;DR version may as well be, well done everyone, this was an excellent showing of comedic talent.

The evening's events were conveyed by the Master of Ceremonies, Ross Downes. Mr Downes is a familiar face to White Mason eyes, having frequently performed at Gonzo's Comedy Nights - in which he waxes lyrical on relationship stereotypes and the bitterness of divorce. However, it was delightful to discover that Ross actually excels in the role of MC, interacting vividly and confidently with the audience, and holding the attention of the room with considerable regard for both genuinely funny one-liners and a good grasp of timing and pacing, ensuring each act gets their fair share.

The first act of the night was also a familiar face - indeed, February's Comedy Crypt was opened by Adele Cliff, whose frequent Gonzo's Comedy Night performances are backed by her trusty notebook o' puns. Her performance here was a similar story, entailing garrulous cringe-puns administered with cheery joie de vivre, alongside her habit of walking into the audience with leading questions about shared interests, ponderously analysing her notebook all the while. I've previously described her performances as 'weaponised awkwardness', and this audience was pretty receptive to her wordplay. Adele clearly loves what she does, and has honed a fine set, although we're eager to see what else she can make happen - more puns, more evolution of her stage persona, even more of the wry improv she's capable of throwing out when events deviate from her plans.

Also taking the stage on the night of 18th February was Mustard Xav, probably the most 'nice guy' comedian you'll ever meet - although not at the expense of wit. Indeed, he instead guided the audience on a pleasant and comical voyage through European cultural idioms, culminating in a surprisingly raucous sing-song about a girl he met in which any naughty rhyming words were substituted at the last second with something innocuous. It worked far more effectively than I can even make it sound - I'd enjoy seeing another performance!

When Tom Masters took the stage, it was as replacement for an act that had cancelled, yet he handled the situation admirably, delivering dry, deadpan and intellectual humour - though not so lofty in the brain-box as to alienate the audience. Instead, he clinched a fine balance, and even leant on the fourth wall in admitting that he had written lots of notes on his hand but, reading them back, now had no idea what most of them meant.

In fact, the talent remained consistently strong throughout the evening, with a variety of comedy styles that flowed in a complementary way, each of which being eagerly met by the audience. Catherine Bohart played on sexuality and gender stereotypes to tremendous effect, telling tales of how whenever she came out of the closet to people, they would double-check if she was sure due to her conventionally feminine personal style - a fine framing of prejudices brought to light with lightning Irish wit.

And when Tom Mayhew took the stage? Well, if Adele Cliff represents weaponised awkwardness, Mr Mayhew is a warhead of mass anxiety! "I had a girlfriend once," he remarked, courting coos from the audience, before looking around sullenly and adding, "...That was a joke."

Tom was a delight, flatly delivering a roster of riotously funny anecdotes about his vaguely misanthropic lifestyle, after which he selected a 'new friend' from the audience - a jocular drunkard who was just happy to be in the room - and after confounding him with a series of social obligations for friendship, dismissed him again to applause. Indeed, this succinct roundup does not do his set credit, and I look forward to attending future performances.

Similarly on fine form was Al Wycherley, another frequent Gonzo's comic who has seriously boosted his comedic chops since we saw him last. Soaring from local humour - a wise opener indeed - to a hysterical set about the musician Adele, Mr Wycherley has evidently hit his stride, and was one of the evening's strongest performers - no small praise, given he was among such a talented bunch. We love seeing comics we thought we knew surprising us in fantastic new ways, and you can be certain White Mason Reviews will keep a close eye on this one.

Nelson was a comedic onslaught, with
every joke captivating the crowd.

But let's be honest. Let's look to our headliner, Mr Nelson T Gombakomba Junior - and let's put our damn hands together, because the big man with the plan utterly stole the show in one of the strongest performances I've ever had pleasure to witness him administer. Dressed in a hitherto-unseen casual style - a contrast from his suited and booted stage persona - Nelson wove established hits and brand new jokes into the perfect formula. Not a single punchline eluded the audience's peals of mirth, and his hilarious cultural jabs - where trips to a urinal become 'handling industrial machinery' and where anecdotes about school nurses take darkly priestly turns - were met with resounding approval.

Nelson rounded off a sensational night of excellent performers, each of whom left a tangible and electric buzz in the air. In fact, the Comedy Crypt at large is one to watch if you're after a fine evening in the Fine City - it's not as easy to find as Gonzo's Comedy Night, perhaps, but trust the sidestreets... and you'll be led to a cavern of comedic capers well worth your attention. Be assured that White Mason Reviews will be back in force!

Retro Gaming! Mr White's Corsair Contrast - Skies of Arcadia VS Rogue Galaxy

Piracy! Although not to be encouraged as a means by which to distribute and acquire games per se, it sure as buccanners and bowsprits is a fantastic topic for a videogame to be about. A couple of years ago, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag summoned a little more sensationalism to mainstream gamers' appreciation of digital doubloons and Caribbean capers. Today though, pirate-themed games are back on the fringes - and if you like Japanese roleplaying games (JRPGs), the pickings are slimmer than a finely shaven pegleg.

Yet there are two JRPGs that immediately spring to mind whenever piratical play is pondered, and it is here that we shall discuss their delights in the salubrious spirit of retro game review jocularity. Indeed, whilst my dear and esteemed Teege hones his Tekken talents and immerses himself in JRPGs of yore, your humble Mr White has mustered all hands to deck to pit Skies of Arcadia against Rogue Galaxy. Aye, me hearties - you read that right!

Skies of Arcadia - where belt buckles happen to your sleeves.

Skies of Arcadia and Rogue Galaxy are often compared, with the former being a Sega game that set sail on the good ship Dreamcast before its remastered rerelease on the GameCube. And although Arcadia is a world of magical steampunk airships and swashbuckling derring-do, Rogue Galaxy - for PlayStation 2 and, more recently, revamped for a high-definition Trophy-enabled rerelease on PlayStation 4 - is an interstellar sci-fi romp featuring some plucky space pirate hijinks. It was developed by Level-5, ingenious inventors of massively popular games like Professor Layton, Inazuma Eleven and Yokai Watch.

Rogue Galaxy - when your ship's sterncastle is an ACTUAL CASTLE.

Pit Skies of Arcadia and Rogue Galaxy side by side, and a number of similarities are starkly apparent. For one, the central protagonists are pirates in each game - although not the true definition of piracy, insofar as the attacking of trade vessels and the general penchant for violence is concerned. No no - both games are more akin to those Saturday morning animes we all grew up with, with chirpy shipmates and a general sense of the jolly lot of them being naught more than playful rascals out for a caper and a big load of mythical treasure. Similarly, both games have splendid flying frigates and galleons as a central means of transportation, and both feature evil empires that are planning to unleash ancient evils in an eternal lust for conquest. See? Told you it was like a Saturday morning anime.

Aika - Skies of Arcadia

Kisala - Rogue Galaxy

With oh-so-frequent random enemy encounters, mighty boss battles, and even similarly attired female deuteragonists with indefatigably chirpy personalities, both Skies of Arcadia and Rogue Galaxy could be assumed, at first glance, to be riffing off one another. Yet play each side by side, and their differences soon become apparent. For one thing, where Skies of Arcadia favours the turn-based battles of RPGs of yore, Rogue Galaxy has a frantic and fast-paced battle system that has you and your party members dashing around, urgently attempting to outwit foes who hit like trucks full of ouch-juice.

Furthermore, both games have a broader reach than their anime-eque plots alone. Rogue Galaxy has a rather opaque yet versatile item manufacturing metagame, not to mention bounty hunting and an insect battling and breeding tournament none too dissimilar to a certain monster-catching franchise that's celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Meanwhile, Skies of Arcadia features bounty hunting too, but also a fully realised Discoveries system befitting its world's 'Age of Exploration' era - and you're fully able to pilot a variety of gorgeous sky-ships, in contrast to Rogue Galaxy's singular, impressive yet only-flown-in-cutscenes interstellar galleon. Indeed, Arcadia then throws ship battles into the mix - often challenging and highly strategic, factoring in rival ship captains as well as ancient gargantuans from beyond recorded history. Add to that the crew recruitment metagame Arcadia offers - wherein each member adds new capabilities to both ship and terrestrial battles - as well as the ability to capture an island and set up a customisable pirate base, and it's clear that Arcadia is the world you're going to want to explore.

Getting boots this fine takes ages!

That said, both games offer oodles of secrets, yet Rogue Galaxy suffers a little from its dungeon-crawling modus operandi - the 'space pirate' motif could easily have worked as any other setting, as planets are essentially RPG towns and surrounding dungeons, though these are all wonderfully realised. Well, except for the Gladius Towers, a mid-game double-dungeon of mind-numbing length and tedium, whose constant random battles and labyrinthine structure doesn't so much scream 'filler and padding' as bring the enjoyable jaunt of the whole game screeching to an utterly deplorable standstill. Rogue Galaxy is an excellent game, however, and its rerelease via PlayStation 4 has allowed new audiences to appreciate its fun and finery.


Its status as a more modern game in the first place also has allowed Rogue Galaxy to age better from a technical perspective - the game has full voice acting of a uniformly high standard, and holds up well today. The same can be said of Skies of Arcadia, but there's no doubting it's showing its rough edges far more nowadays. If only they'd make an HD rerelease of it like they do with, you know, everything else ever.

"Look, desert planet or not, a jacket wouldn't have killed you."

Indeed, though Arcadia is the better game - only one planet to explore, but you get to explore it fully, whereas Rogue Galaxy's title is misleading with regard to its scale and scope - Skies of Arcadia is very rarely encountered in the wild. Chance upon a Dreamcast or GameCube edition of the game, and you'll be expected to drop anywhere between £60 - 120 for the pleasure of play. It's a price well worth paying for one of the most unique and enjoyable RPGs ever committed to the digital realm, of course - but in terms of accessibility, Rogue Galaxy wins out. You can cheerfully download it to a PS4 at your leisure.


Both games are fine interpretations of piracy through the fantasy filter, albeit without any freeform
debauchery or raiding or cannonfire or anything beyond thrilling heroics. Why, Rogue Galaxy's pirates are so law-abiding that renewing your travel visa in order to legally fly your starship is a plot point!

We'd love to see sequels to both Skies of Arcadia and Rogue Galaxy, yet their dear mother corporations seem to have their eyes on other prizes - painfully reducing blue hypersonic mascots to laughing stocks and making games about kids with magical watches going ghostbusting, last we checked. It's a shame, but if you've never played these fine piratical capers, we urge you to do so - stories woven around a golden age, formed in the videogame industry's golden age itself.

White Mason Reviews covers everything from restaurants and comedians to bars and videogames - if you've a product, an experience or an idea ready for our appraisal, feel free to get in touch!

Grosvenor Fish Bar -The Teege Critiques

So one sunny afternoon I had the delight of stopping by an old place that's had family owners in the last 30 years, and has always been one of, if not THE, most popular fish and chip shop in Norwich. Taking a traditional view on the way it's served, maintaining the feeling of quick service and an upbeat pace, this place never slows, and you will tend to find the queue lagging somewhere out of the door and around the corner.

Their new and expansive menu has brought questions to your critique's lips though... shark and miso on chips? Now I am a true fan of the finer culinary delights, but placing them in what's marketed as a traditional fish and chip bar is something new altogether.

The variety of choice for fish and sausage, however, has grown vastly since the days of a sausage and chips and a piece of unknown godforsaken fish. With the loss of Hot Chip, the hipster version of fish and chips, this left the Norwich market with Grosvenor Fish Bar as the only contender.

Upon entrance, the newly decorated walls of wood and pop art bring an air of vibrancy to the old chippy. The upbeat Americana music to accompany was an interesting touch... I didn't realise that in the USA they served a traditional English dish...!

The queue had six people in, with varying orders, which were handled swiftly. Upon my order the lady greeted me with somewhat of a fake interest into my presence, which seemed to bother her day...? "Sorry for wanting to purchase your chips," was my first reaction!

Order placed, we were offered our meal to eat in or take away... eating in being the preference this time, we were subsequently told to go downstairs and wait for our order. Sorry, wait, what...? Back up two seconds. You should never tell a customer to do something. That's Hospitality 101! You may advise that there is seating downstairs... anyway. We sat upstairs to watch how the rest of service was handled. Pretty much the same treatment, but overhearing the lady who served us discussing with her colleagues that "we never get to know our regulars" was interesting.

Upon the food arriving, we were excited. Two lots of sausage (no batter), and chips with gravy, cheese and curry sauce. The main ingredients, as far as I'm concerned, are the options available at any good chippy. The chips were as phenomenal as ever - crispy, yet light and fluffy. No excess oil, if only a tad too salty. The sausage was mediocre... I was expecting better. There was far too much salt. The sausage itself didn't have much flavour, beyond some piece of pork... I could tell that much! They could do with a partnership with Pickering's of Norwich, it would add a great twist.

So service and salt aside, The Teege gives this a 3.5/5 Stars. Less salt, more passion, and genuine personality from your staff will bring a whole new level of service to a revitalised old favourite.

I've an almighty fondness for the fishy fineries served at Grosvenor's, together with the friendly atmosphere and jazzy music. The vibrance of the establishment is a credit to Norwich, as is the hard work and commitment of its staff. The Bunker, the labyrinthine underground seating of the place, is a wonderful area in which to commune and unwind, and you can cheerfully take your fish and chips over the street to The Birdcage and eat them there. It's a fantastic part of the community, and if you've never tried it, I have just three words for you - Cha Cha Chips. Try them, and thank me later. It's 4/5 Stars from me!

Gonzo's Comedy Night Review - 29th January 2016

Stalwart Gonzo's, I believe we meet again! There's a lovely vibrant feeling of warmth that encompasses you as you enter this back-alley watering-hole. The staff here are always accommodating as the rhythmic beats pulse away the night with a clutter of conversation. Our choice of beverage is a mocha using only Stranger's finest coffee. Warming, smooth and delightful as always. But we are here on business! The Tome of Judgement in hand, let us begin what is Gonzo's Comedy Night!

It feels like far too long since we last sat down amid the crimson-and-candlelight gloom of perky Gonzo's Tea Room, gazing at the stage in collective hope of jokes, japes and jocularity. Fortunately, one of the premier events amid Norwich's growing comedic calendar is back - Friday 29th January 2016 saw local rising star Nelson T Gombakomba Junior joined by a host of familiar and fresh comic talent from every corner of Great Britain. Naturally, Mr White and Mr Mason attended to appraise the acts set to ensue - and after a previously resounding Christmas show, hopes were definitely high...
 

Our host for the evening was the evergreen Alexander Oliver, who took to presiding as Master of Ceremonies following his initial stint as such in December 2015. Mr Oliver was on remarkably strong form on the evening of 29th January, however, easily eclipsing his previous performance. Taking his penchant for quick-witted audience interaction to hitherto unseen heights, Alex confidently laid down his trademark humour, rich in innuendo, exasperated bluster and his long-standing rivalry with the loud Gonzo's Tea Room coffee machine. A resilient showing in the role of host, yet such was his degree of audience interaction that we ended up missing his own material - we hungered for his humour! 4/5 Stars.


Ah Alex, interactive and delightful as always! His temperament warming the room, slowly bringing the audience ever forward in accepting comedy into their hearts. Upon his opening there was a builder gentleman who decided to heckle - and Alex in all his quick-wittedness shut him down before any further comments could be made. With the audience on side Alex, brought forth some of his own material rather than just MC'ing, which was tremendously refreshing! 4/5 Stars.

Mr Cross... as you may remember, last time I had the "pleasurable" experience of enduring your comedic rant on life, which was to be honest disdainful and boring. So to hear your new works at January's event was, in all honesty, superb! I noted from my colleague that last time you had noted of our antics and it was wholeheartedly received! Your sense of dark humour and your analysis on relationships had me chuckling throughout. Your notes on when wedding dresses would be worn a second time was hilarious. The only thing I could add to this is BRING MORE OF THIS TO LIFE! And don't be scared to interact with the audience, your set has come on leaps and bounds! You have earned yourself 3.5/5 Stars!

The initial act of the evening was Ryan Cross, a returning regular without whom, we daresay, it simply wouldn't be Gonzo's Comedy Night. Notable about his set of the evening was the fact that his usual penchant for humour at the bleeding edge of black comedy seemed to have been toned down, instead replaced with much quipping about relationships and their complexities. It was refreshing to see that each of his jokes and the entirety of his material was fresh to our eyes and ears, yet the audience reaction was frequently muted. Mr Cross is improving, however, and his diligence certainly shows. 3/5 Stars.

The lovely lady Ciara. Alas, what's new... well, not the opening, which was the same leprosy joke as last time, and didn't start all too well. However, the note of your father running around shooting pigeons in a balaclava, spiking the interest with the IRA, was brilliant! Material heavy on political stance and the ineptness of the PM was interesting, but what got the laughs were the family anecdotes! 3/5 Stars for this performance - bring more anecdotes forward and don't be afraid to communicate with the audience.

Another returning face to the fray was Ciara Jack, whose material leaned on her experiences in both writing for BBC Radio Norfolk's comedy programming, as well as performing in 'Jack The Ripper - The Musical' in Norwich last autumn. Her set wove politics, feminism and highbrow class humour to well-paced effect. However, there was somewhat more consulting the notebook onstage than in previous performances we've witnessed, although her killer punchline regarding certain yellow fiends infesting popular culture ("If you don't know what a Minion is, it's basically a small yellow half-blind Joe Pasquale in dungarees...") was met with an eruption of laughter so collective and profound that Ciara herself almost seemed startled. 3.5/5 Stars.

Daniel Offen, a Londoner up in Norfolk... oh no! How will he cope? Well, to start with, a loud opening, and a plush bee? This man is seriously odd, and started with the audience on side. His rant on feminism and action figures was delightful... but alas, it took a turn for the worse. The political rants began and thus the audience began to wane. The jokes were not hitting the mark and when being signaled the set time was up, he carried on trying to win the audience back... repeatedly. Forgetting your set halfway through wasn't the greatest of outlooks either. Not really impressed. 2/5 Stars.

Hot on the heels of the previous act's satire and political musings, Daniel Offen roared onto the stage with impactful gusto, rousing the restless crowd from any stupor they may have been lost within. Tracing his influences to 1980s stand-up comics such as Ben Elton, there was also more than a hint of Ade Edmonson in his delivery and approach, with material that danced from politics and Thatcherism (which he confessed to being too young to have felt any direct impact from), through to puns and pokes at the absurdities of modern life. Although nothing truly stood out, Mr Offen demonstrates an aptitude for stand-up that seems eager to cut loose - I'd certainly welcome the chance to see him perform again. 3/5 Stars.

An interesting man is Jack Shanik. His dry sense of one-liners were short and to the point. Heralding from the northeast, his sense of humour was really "Oh dad, why did you say that?!"... and it had its moments where laughter could be heard. But resoundingly it was quite plain. Towards the end the jokes just got worse and the audience was starting to go and buy more drinks, maybe to scrape away the pain that was being bled through on stage. However, there were delightful notes of the north, but Mr Shanik, your one-liners are terrible. Bring a conversation to light with the audience and you will be a welcomed returning act. 2.5/5 Stars.

Oh me, oh my. Mr White likes to write - thus it stands to reason that Mr White likes wordplay, and this made watching Jack Shanik's performance a true delight. From reciting a tract of a Lewis Carroll classic in an impregnable Northern drawl - proclaiming it to be 'Alice In Sunderland' - Jack went on to zap out zingers including describing wearing a big fuzzy wig and spinning on the spot as a means to arouse himself as his 'Afro Dizzy Act'. More ingenious is the fact that Mr Shanik knows what he's doing and almost seems to welcome the occasional audience groan at a punchline - at one point he even turned to me during the performance and remarked, "It's not easy setting comedy back forty years, mate!" 4/5 Stars to this cheeky chap and his irrepressible punslaught!

The Pope is among us... just lacking the robes and hat. His slow building performance really hit a stride once the audience started laughing. His notes on life of "public school breeding villains" and the "struggles of being an adult when you're still a child at heart" had the room in resounding laughter. Short and to the point, Benedict Pope hit the mark every time, rounding off with a remark about "disarming a bomb with a raw lamb shank" - the room was lifted of the previous maniacal curse of the political gripe. 3.5/5 Stars. Please come back again - you, sir, will go far if you can deliver more material!

Benedict Pope is demonstrably clever. That said, he started somewhat flat and unremarkable in his Gonzo's performance, relating life in London to an audience he then lit up with but a single word. "Milk." Indeed, in chronicling his bizarre experiences with milk deliveries in his London home, Mr Pope turned a simple series of transactions into a hilarious rant about his experience with the milk company, which devolved into a fracas in which his argument - "Please stop sending me milk!" - was met with the counterargument of... well, being constantly sent milk. He also singlehandedly mustered the best quote of the entire evening, when he explained that the woman he had called responded, "But you can't cancel, because then THE MILKMAN WOULD BE SAD." 4/5 Stars!

The one the only MONTY BURNS! Mr Burns opened with a huge entrance, he immediately picked up on the previous heckler and killed him before anything was said. His remarks on Jehovah's Witnesses brought the room into near rapture! He related Robocop to Jesus, and his antics when meeting dates for the first time and asking point blank "have you made a sex tape yet? Because this is as good as your gonna look..." Noting his wife's comments "my wife says that I have boundary issues... well she didn't say that but she wrote it in her diary!", he then treated us to his remarks upon airbrushed models and how men will sleep with anything - "what's the point, we will still sleep with you!" - but ultimately finishing with how his wife always plays to win at Monopoly... and when she does win, screams "Eat my p***y motherf****r", which brought the house down. 4.5/5 Stars for an amazing performance. A great headliner to arrive at Gonzo's!

Hilarity hit a high point with the arrival of Monty Burns to the stage, who seethed into being before us like a furious Scottish Tony Stark. Screaming at the audience until they capitulated, he held the room rapt with his dark wit and familial angst. Tabulating the 'filth' he witnesses on children's TV and the innuendoes he finds there, Mr Burns then swept the acrid cloak of his comedy across the bar, citing an attending couple as resembling a girl group songstress shacked up with Shrek, before shouting that the well-coiffed barman was a protagonist from Twilight. Agitated and animated, Monty hit the mark as the night's strongest comedian by far - no small feat amid such talented peers. 4.5/5 Stars!

Find Monty On Facebook here! Monty Burns Comedy
Follow Him on Twitter! @Montysrants 

The Great Nelson once again presented himself to a stunning audience, laughs of the differences between countries and the contrast of old among newer material was a sly move but it worked. Speaking of his "head" teacher in kind, there were notes of an African doctor coming to England, but the NHS cuts hitting them forcing him to leave. His comments on "all white people looking the same" brought a round of laughs and he even noted "there were many Canadians in the bar". But the finisher were his notes on "if women ruled the world there would be no nuclear bombs... just long text messages", which killed the audience. Not the strongest act of Nelson's, but certainly held his own. 3.5/5 Stars.

The one, the only, the almighty Nelson T Gombakomba Junior rounded off a fine night of comedy in the fine city. Nelson's excitement and zeal were electric - he had just got back from a previous night at London's Comedy Store in which he received one of the strongest positive responses of his career. Nonetheless, on home turf, Nelson was applauded as a local hero, yet his comedy of the night was surprisingly off-the-cuff, seeking input among the audience for 'fun facts' to round off his established wit ("There's a new thing called the 'after-sex selfie', but in Norfolk it's just called a 'family portrait'..."). It's always a pleasure to see Nelson perform, and Gonzo's Tea Room remains his comedic thinktank, in which fresh jokes are blended, poured and refined. 3.5/5 Stars!

All in all a solid night of comedic delights - a fine line up, and some great moments. Nights in Gonzo's are truly amazing and shouldn't be missed just because it's not on Prince of Wales Road! Drop in, try the rum or let the staff make you a cocktail of merit, you will not be disappointed.

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White Mason Reviews appreciates the talent and co-operation of Viktoria DeRoy Photography in chronicling the capers of the evening! Viktoria is a local photographer who frequently attends - and dutifully snaps! - each monthly Gonzo's Comedy Night, with an ever-growing portfolio besides.

White Mason Reviews was approached by Monty Burns to add links to his social media in his review segment - we are happy to accommodate other such promotional requests from featured or forthcoming acts. These requests do not detract from White Mason Reviews' unbiased critiques and are strictly conducted on a not-for-profit basis.