26 Jul 2025
The Comedy Garden and urban festivals of its ilk have largely taken the place of the circus in our lives. They roll into town with a lot of hoopla and hullabaloo, then disappear leaving naught but trampled grass, happy memories and possibly some unwanted pregnancies. They have dispensed with the acrobats, human cannonballs and elephants, though, and all that is retained are the clowns. Who don’t even all arrive in one tiny car (possibly they do, I’m not sure of the touring arrangements). As anyone who has been to a traditional circus will agree, though, the inheritors of the big top are immensely more entertaining.
Our ringmaster for the evening was Jen Brister, whose job it was to whip the big top into a frenzy of anticipation before each act. She had a good line in Australian accents, and great material about parenthood (children are the comedy gift that keeps on giving, especially in a breeder centre like St Albans) but some of her audience interactions fell a bit flat due to the poor acoustics in the top.
Falling flat is not a charge that could ever be levelled at Stephen Bailey, who exploded like a camp IED onto the stage. His jokes came so quickly that by the time one had landed with the audience he was already a couple further on. He rapidly took against one half of the audience, who he designated the ‘Quinoa side’, and I felt very fortunate to be sat in the favoured side, even if it meant I was part of the ‘Watford side’. Although rationally I fully appreciated how arbitrary it was, it’s always nice to feel like you’re part of the in-crowd. Bailey had a great mix of innocence and filth and is clearly a star of the future and a name to watch out for.
The next act, Dane Buckley, ploughed a similar furrow to Bailey and there was some initial repetition of material but he quickly branched out into a more relaxed routine, grounded in familial affection and storytelling. He was no less effective for it, and one of the real benefits of evenings like this are the range of styles and material you get in your comedy buffet. He ended with a song that combined Irish folk with risque mime and then was gone long before outstaying his welcome.
I had been very excited about seeing Bridget Christie, having greatly enjoyed her stint on Taskmaster, but she seemed to be dealt a tough hand this night. Firstly we had more repetition, as she did a routine about the impact of the menopause on memory that was very similar to the piece that Brister had been doing just before she came on (perhaps they forgot to check what they were covering with each other). After this she was thrown by a fight that seemed to be breaking out in the quinoa side of the audience, but again due to the acoustics she couldn’t really decipher what it was about or make any comedy mileage from it. From then on she was struggling to get back on track for the rest of her allotted time, which wasn’t long. It’s a shame because as she was hitting her stride she was great, expertly combining righteous indignation at her children with physical comedy, and then she was gone.
I’d last been at the Comedy Garden a couple of years ago, and both times the headliner has been Phil Wang. On the previous night I was slightly disappointed so didn’t have high expectations for Wang, but he absolutely nailed it this time. Flying the flag for straight men, as he put it, despite sporting an impressive moustache that made him look like one of the international cousins at the Flanders family reunion, he was on fantastic form with both his material and delivery.
He started with some great chat about the Waffle House which bought the locals on side and was a pleasant change from the ‘people in St Albans are posh’ route that most of the other comedians had gone down. He was thoughtful and analytical, as well as being consistently amusing, looking at how we talk about race as well as the points of conflict between the generations. I think part of the reason he was the absolute highlight of the evening was that he was given the chance to expand and elaborate his material, whereas the other acts had been in a constant battle against the clock.
All of the acts were constantly checking their watch, as if afraid of being forcibly dragged off the stage if they went over. Possibly it would be worth installing a ‘Countdown’ style clock at the back of the stage to keep everyone in line. This sense of urgency extended to the audience. In the two intervals the entire crowd headed for either the bar or the loos leading to gargantuan queues at both. The toilets were particularly bad, snaking round and moving as slowly as immigration at an American airport, and the organisers should really consider providing urinals so at least half the audience can make it in and out during the duration of the interval without making themselves a potential target for mockery by coming back into the tent late.
I also think the move under canvas was not entirely successful. When I last attended the event was fully outdoors, and the ambience of the park and the gradually setting sun really added to proceedings. You did get to experience this briefly in the intervals, but it made you feel slightly resentful when you were called back into the toasty and slightly smelly tent. As discussed, the acoustics also made it difficult for the comics to interact with anyone beyond the front row, although this is probably a blessed relief for those not foolish enough to risk being in the firing line. I know some previous evenings have been heavily impacted by downpours, but the Roman Theatre across the park manages to put on outdoor shows throughout the Summer, and being British I think we are able to cope with the rain by now.
Despite these logistical quibbles the Comedy Garden really is a fantastic event and we are lucky that our town is included on the itinerary. The line-ups are absolutely top class, with a great mix of comedy titans at the top of their game and newer names bringing fresh perspectives. The range of style, pace and energy mean you are never in any danger of being anything less than fully entertained, and the way things are in the world we are all in need of a good laugh now and then. If you can make it along for the rest of this run I thoroughly recommend it, and if not you can count the days until the comedy big top rolls into town again next year.
