Comedy Kitson leaves Gordo Speechless

Comedian Daniel Kitson delivered a warm up treat for fans in Manchester last night before heading up to the Edinburgh festival.
Kitson, who would be recognised by many as Spencer from Phoenix Nights, has been making a name for himself in his own right since making his first tour in 2003. With a growing reputation (Kitson was named People's Choice and Comics' Comic in the 2004 Chortle Awards) this made the Comedy Store’s John Locke’s ability to get Kitson into the venue before Edinburgh all the more of a coup.
Not quite sure what to expect, the bespectacled beardie was greeted on stage by 300 gleeful Mancunians, along with a tub of six baked buns from a couple in the front row (They weren't from us as our competition winner Katherine Fletcher suggested!), before settling down on a wooden chair with a book full of notes for an intimate show.
Kitson concentrated on bouncing off the audience more than delivering a slick repertoire – anyone going to the toilet would get a veritable roasting, as Gordo would find out later on!
The Manchester Confidential team, sat in the front row, should have known better really and were always set for a roasting as soon as Kitson heard Gordo’s louder than life cries of delight. A few minutes into the set, Gordo let out a startled cry (Was it the prawns trying to get out? - Ed), which was unsurprisingly picked up on straight away.
”What the hell was that?” enquired Kitson.
Gordo, pondered for a moment, lost for words for the first time in history, before eventually responding with: “I’m just very frightened”. (??)
As tumbleweeds threatened to waft across the stage, a slightly embarrassed Gordo sat back in his seat (possibly dreaming of Donna from In Manchester) and, thank God, Kitson swiftly moved on.
Depression, relationship struggles and, erm, Trevor the racist penis, were all on the agenda for the first half of the set as Kitson tested out a range of material on the audience.
The second half was slightly more subdued, with Kitson stumbling, mumbling and stuttering his way through an hour of banter with the audience, notably convincing them that some bloke wanted to ‘do things’ to his sister, before Kitson disappeared behind the curtain for ten minutes after a member of the audience brought up his role in Karate Kid the Musical.
He returned to launch a scathing attack on a couple of R&B fans in the audience which topped the night off for most of the normal-music-listening-crowd – “It’d be statutory rape if the music was turned off!”
A couple of hecklers were dealt with swiftly and sharply, although there’s bound to be more of a test for Kitson up in Scotland as he attempts to move up to the next level on the comedy circuit. As inexperienced heckler James Taylor admitted afterwards, he could have done better: “I’m actually a bit of a k*&%”. Kitson couldn’t have put it better himself….
Kitson now heads up to the Edinburgh festival running from the August 6 – 29th.
Tim Gough