Just wondering if anyone else went to see Mark Thomas at the City Hall? I thought it was brilliant. Rob Newman was also excellent if slightly erratic!

i went thought mark thomas was fab

wasnt quiet so keen on rob newman but i had a good night
off to see daniel kitson tonight in the same room hope he's as good as last time i saw him :clap:

Yeah I was there - I thought Mark Thomas was great, but still can't decide what to make of Rob Newman.

He seemed very nervous about his material, and for the first half of his set hid behind a silly voice and his outfit, like he was embarrassed somehow. For the later parts of his set he calmed down and it was a lot better.

Memorial Hall has scrubbed up nicely, wasn't too sure about the seats though - took us ages to work out where the seat numbers where!

Off to see Daniel Kitson tonight!!! :thumbsup:

i wish i knew about it, i used to watch the Mark Thomas project alot....... they guy is funny and says what he thinks!

How did you rate the refurbished City Hall?
I am going on Saturday to the Halle concert and really looking forward to it.

It was a good night. I rarely agree with MT's rather naive and utopian politics but he writes and presents his material well and he just is funny and acerbic.

Rob Newman - well it's just nice to see him back out of his black hole. A good show - he did over an hour! I don't know if the 3rd ukulele was a crutch, but yea... nice artwork mate ;)

Cheers Toby. :thumbsup:


As for the room - it's looking good and the sound system was nicely sorted for last night. They have to sort out the bar arrangements. Next time I'll be nipping out at half time for a curry instead of waiting in THAT queue.

I was really disappointed with Mark Thomas last night, his end jokes about driving when stoned were just like your below average stand up. he also didn't mention anything new, I was blown away the last time he played city hall with his material on the persecution of the Kurds but all he mentioned this time was Clarke's anti social pledge (which he repeated word for word form his New Statesman column this week)

Rob Newman was awesome however, wish I'd had enough cash to buy his DVD, seemed to be everything Mark Thomas used to be.

They really nee to sort out that bar however, although £2.40 a pint was a lot cheaper then I was expecting to be stung for.

I didn't see it, as I went home as soon as they went on. I'm shattered!
I hear it went really well, and they're both genuinely lovely blokes.

I went and enjoyed them both alot. It was the first stand up I'd seen live and I hardly stopped laughing all night. v. impressed.

Sometimes I think Mark Thomas's TV stuff is a bit OTT but his material last nite was really funny.. tho I can't forgive him for stealing a classic Bill Hicks joke! :nono:

Rob Newman went a bit far into obscure history for me in places but it was still funny.. he should stop doing the silly accents all the time... and talk a little s l o w e r maybe!

Great nite out tho - and the memorial hall is transformed into a classy venue again.. last time I went it was starting too look awful, threadbare and dirty!

The concourses around the city hall look amazing too.. its turned out rather good! :clap:

For the first 20 mins of Rob Newmans set I kept expecting him to say ' you see that smelly old dog.. that's you that is...' or something along those lines!! but he didn't.

I thought RN was excellent - I'll prob go and read his book now. MT also very good. CH exterior lights look fantastic - it will really transform the area when it's all completed.

Not impressed with the Memorial hall as a venue though. The bar was an absolute joke - how could they think that arrangement would be adequate for 300 people for a 20-minute interval? How desparate for one drink do you have to be to join a queue of about 50 people? I didn't bother, and next time I'll just nip to a pub outside for a pint (assuming they let you back in). They should have another bar on the left of the stage or just make that one 3 times bigger with 3 times as many staff. The bars should be a cash-cow for the CH but that shambles is not going to generate income and is a disservice to the punters.

Sightlines also rather poor from the sides. Lighting wasn't good when looking from the sides either - seemed very dim to me. Credit to the performers for bothering to keep turning round to right and left though so that we felt included.

****** I missed this - I love Mark Thomas

Originally posted by welchiewelch
****** I missed this - I love Mark Thomas

same here. I only looked at what music gigs were on and saw the prices and didn't look any further