CityLife

Stewart Francis: Tour De Francis

Stewart Francis
The Lowry
January 26, 2010

THE piecing together of a stand up routine is always an impressive feat.

Seamlessly segueing routines into each other, displaying a skill with words, peppering it with callbacks to previous routines and perhaps including a topical reference or two.

But when your set consists of a series of one liners, it always seems that so much more work has gone in.

Canadian Francis – not to be confused with the grape-crushing enthusiast of a  comedian Stu Francis – has been impressing on the circuit for a long time.

CityLife first saw him headline the Buzz club in Chorlton 10 years ago, by which time he was already well respected by audiences and other acts alike.

Francis frequently appears on the box on the other side of the pond, but it’s his appearances on the likes of Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and on Mock The Week (where he’s favourite to replace Frankie Boyle), that have encouraged him to head out on a solo tour.

Playing

It also guarantees him this full house on a cold January night at the Lowry.

Not missing a beat – there’s no audience banter or warming up here – he never fails to open his mouth without a gag coming out. You think he’s about to make a sincere comment about how nice it is to be playing Salford when he spins it into a joke.

He opens proceedings by playing with the crowd; walking on to the stage and announcing: “I hope tonight isn’t going to be a disappointment to you all” – then promptly walking off again.

It’s representative of the playing around that continues throughout the show.

From simple gags such as ‘what’s with trainspotters? I counted 27 of them on the way here…’; through to running gags stemming from how his father made him swim back from a fishing outing; through to a few playfully bad puns – all are realised in his deadpan, dry delivery.

And his timing is perfect. Everything comes together to give the air of a seasoned professional.