Review/Rave: Micky Flanagan – If Ever We Needed It

Lyric Theatre – London ★★★★☆

Like a lot of people I’m sure, I didn’t really scrutinise the venue before buying the tickets to Micky Flanagan’s latest UK tour, I merely panicked at the first sight of the email, did a brief cross-check on the where and when, and then experienced 15 minutes of low-level stress whilst hopping about the remaining available dates, in the hope of securing a couple of spots without restricted viewing.

Which is how we came to be jammed into seats B10-11 up on the Grand Circle of London’s Lyric Theatre.

It’s one of those gorgeously ornate old theatres, where you automatically scan the boxes for Statler & Waldorf from the muppets, only to be disappointed that, once again, they’re not there. 

Those of you who have visited it recently, will know I’m being deadly serious about the ‘jam’ element of the seating. Describing the seats as snug would be a gross understatement, I wouldn’t describe myself as fat, but the armrests really do ‘hold’ your waist. For a brief moment, when standing up to let people through, I thought I was going to bring the entire conjoined row up with me!

The fixed rows of red velvet lined seats were probably seen as luxurious when the theatre was built in 1888 and the average height of a man was 5’5”, against today’s 5’9”, but now there is a degree of discomfort that accompanies any show longer than 23 minutes.

Complimentary hip replacement surgery would be a nice touch.

Thankfully about halfway through ‘Aisle-man’ decided to eschew theatre etiquette and throw both his legs fully out onto the steps, which meant the rest of us could sit fully on the slant to ease our knees. Happy days!

Unlike Micky’s old venue (the O2 Arena which can host up to 20,000 people) this theatre can only squeeze in 991. We felt very lucky to be there with such a comedy legend… and, I am relieved to tell you, he didn’t disappoint! 

The truth is, he only meant to ‘pop out’ of the live comedy scene for a couple of years back in 2018, but then along came covid and extended his hiatus to five years. It’s not surprising then that he wanted to test the water with smaller venues, rather than screaming ‘alright at the back?’ into the 100+ metre abyss that is the O2.

He need not have worried, a few exaggerated strides of the cockney walk, and a quick ‘No fingering!’ warning to those in the boxes and we were all eating out of his hands once again. 

We were pleased to see the audience had a very wide demographic, as well as the core 45-65 year olds, there were also a lot of 20-somethings chortling along. Not all of which had been dragged along by their parents.

Micky’s routine ticked off all the checkpoints, as he rebuilt his persona as an old-school, working-class-but-wealthy, married, work-shy, fun-loving, drink and drug-taking, diamond geezer.

Basically still on the hunt for amusement wherever he can find it.

He dared to mention how times have changed, but didn’t quite get how much, before launching himself into a full blown chinese impersonation, leaving us wondering whether it’s still ‘ok’ to do that, or were we going to be arrested by the Woke Police for laughing at that bit?

Later on he treated us to his renditions of both Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un for a cringeworthy five minutes which again left the audience in a bit of a social quandary.

At least he had the good sense to apologise to the audience if anyone was finding any of his material ‘triggering’. Which brought the house down, hooray, at least he understood it could be.

“We didn’t have triggers in my day!” exclaimed an increasingly cockney Mick “We just got on with it.” Which is exactly what my mum says about the menopause. How times have changed.

So although he may have ruffled a few woke feathers, I think we can forgive him, as he has never sought to be, nor has been, confrontational. No one has ever walked away from a Micky Flanagan gig marvelling at his skill in depicting the colourful recycling bin rota as a metaphor for racism. He didn’t. He never will. He just wants to make you (as well as himself) laugh. 

To summarise, he gave the people what they wanted… a ludicrous, old-school walkabout around his head, peppered with anecdotes and marital advice… we even stopped off to indulge in a spot of rimming along the way. Pure class.

If you get a chance to see him, just go, no matter how old or woke you are.

Toodles!

K8x

PS: Grab your ticket, or sign up to hear about new tours here.

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