Hear The Truth

We've been posting a lot about stand up comedy lately, but we can't help it. Comedy just suits the "festive" season perfectly.

We first saw Reginald D Hunter in 2002, where he wowed a room full of students at Manchester's superb XS Malarkey comedy night. His amiable style can put any audience at ease. An evening with Reginald is always thought provoking as well as funny. His standard refrain is one of "I love stand up comedy because it's the only place where you can tell the truth and everyone thinks that you're joking".

As time has gone on, Hunter has grown in stature. A string of award nominations and the odd TV appearance has brought him into the limelight, but he still remains a minority concern, loved by those who attend stand up comedy gigs but little known outside in the way that, say, the thoroughly average Jo Caulfield has broken through into mainstream consciousness via the standard panel show/radio 4 circuit. Perhaps it's because Hunter's act is a little too awkward for the mainstream. His sets rely on being seen in length, in their entirety as Hunter explores an idea and takes his analysis of American bullshit to its logical conclusions. The fact that one of his recent shows was called Pride and Prejudice and Niggas probably didn't help either.

Anyway, Hunter is probably the best comedian around not to have received mainstream recognition so should not be missed. He is performing at the Arts Theatre in Soho (not to be confused with Soho Arts Theatre) on 14th-15th, 21st-22nd and 28th-29th December.