Review by Kinga Ludwin
A Latte Laughs with Esquires Coffee in Leicester was a good night led by Tez Ilyas (Mock The Week, The Last Leg), who told us what’s about to happen. In an audience we had kids, pianist, teachers, pharmacist, driving instructor, IT guy and me – all of us were expecting an unforgettable night. Let’s see how it worked out.
First up is Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Bilal Zafar, who tells us his story about dating apps. He starts with Tinder and says it didn’t work. He makes an upgrade to Bumble app. Once more, it’s a failure. Then he uses Minder, an app for Muslims. And you know what? It didn’t work again. Poor Bilal. He can’t find a girlfriend, and also his comedy couldn’t find a good way to amuse. Maybe next time.
The second comedian holds my attention from the beginning to the end. Carly Smallman is a “bundle of energy” according to the Sun, and so it proves. There is no boredom with Carly. She’s a woman of action, she talks a lot and at the same time, she shares her energy with everyone. She loves dogs. “With a dog in the park is like with a child on the playground: you have to talk to another child’s parent even if you don’t want to. It’s the same with a dog. Every trip for a walk leads to an awkward conversation with any random dog owner,” she says.
Like Bilal, she also mentions her Tinder experience. She’s trying to understand the ‘d*ck pic’ phenomena but there’s no logical solution to the puzzle. “As you’re already sending such a photo, can you do us a favour and put a 50 pence coin next to it,” she says. As an icing on the cake, she sings us a love song, of sorts. “My soulmate is out there and I know, he’s waiting for me… Every single day he buys me flowers, then goes down on me for hours… I don’t really care if you voted for Brexit, as long as you feel ashamed about it.”
The last and a special guest was Scott Bennett, who tells a story spun from his experience of the parent-child relationship.
He stresses how much he loves his toddlers, but also complains about being a parent, as it’s “a lack of freedom.” One of his daughters is six. “On the swimming pool she’s three, on the bus she’s four. You know what I mean,” he says, pointing out the parents in the audience.
He mentions a birthday card from his daughter with a huge ‘for my favourite dad’ on the front. At the same time, he starts wondering how many of them could be. He is very energetic man. He has the strength of persuasion, thanks to which I almost believed that his second daughter lives in a room size of a box. I’ve seen him twice at this year’s festival, and both of performances were special and very funny.
