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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Live at Her Majesty's

Lee Evans

1994 · 66 min

A physically exhausting set of manic mime and high-speed observational comedy.

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Lee Evans treats his stage time like a physical endurance test. The exertion is the central joke, with his oversized suit quickly soaking in sweat as he contorts through mime, slapstick, and full-body act-outs. He pitches the concept of a human mating call and delivers an exaggerated, meta lesson on the mechanics of being a stand-up. He effectively turns nervous exhaustion into a high-RPM character somewhere between Norman Wisdom and a malfunctioning cartoon.

Filmed at London’s Her Majesty’s Theatre, the set captured Evans just after he won the 1993 Perrier Comedy Award. The material sticks to observational basics, covering the terror of meeting a girlfriend’s parents, the absurdity of televised chess, and the baseline negativity of the evening news. The performance operates primarily as a vehicle for his frenetic energy, peaking during an extended breakdown over an audience member named James trying to sneak away for a bathroom break.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Opening routine following instructions from a record player

    Plays an old-fashioned record and acts out cheesy instructions, sauntering around the stage physically to establish rapport with the audience.

  2. Manchester toughness

    Jokes that it is so rough up in Manchester that they don't shoot people with guns, but insert bullets manually.

  3. Living in a one-room bedsit with his parents

    Recalls his confusion as a child when his father would instruct him to go to his room.

  4. Getting run over because of his grandmother

    Jokes that he was hit by a car while standing in the road because his Nan forgot his name.

  5. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Throwing sweat-stained towel during encore closer

    Graciously thanks the crowd, steps offstage for a sip of water, and returns for an earnest encore where he throws his sweat-soaked towel into the audience.

How it plays

Tone
Warm, silly, congenial, and manic.
On stage
Sweaty, highly physical, congenial, and manic animated performer reminiscent of slapstick traditions.
Pace
Fast, furious, and frenzied with high physical momentum and manic nervous energy.
About
Television, Toilettes, Parents, Human behaviour, Jobs, Sports

What the critics said

Praised as a brilliant, funny, and engaging showcase of frenetic physical energy, though later audience retrospectives note visible early-career nerves and less polished pacing compared to his subsequent arena specials.

In the room: Left in tears of laughter and in stitches by the fast, relentless physical performance.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: allmovie.com, comedy.co.uk, flixxe.com, letterboxd.com, comicbookandmoviereviews.com, thetvdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.

Backstory

Lee Evans brought his hit live show to London's West End for the final show of his 1994 nationwide sell-out tour.

Details

Released
Taped
Her Majesty's Theatre, London
Runtime
66 min
Director
Tom Poole
Topics
Before
An Evening With Lee Evans (1993)
After
Live from the West End (1995)

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