By Abi Willock
Poet and comedian Rob Gee gave a rib-tickling performance as part of WORD! at the Leicester Comedy Festival.
Rob performed alongside comedian turned magician Tim Bombdog, host Lydia Towsey and open-mic performers as part of the WORD! and Foxy Comedy Special at Wygston’s House.
Rob’s passion for poetry began when he became front man of a punk rock band, he said “I was 16 when I fronted the band and the chat between the songs kept getting longer.
“I got into comedy because most of my poems were funny.”
It’s true, Rob’s performance had the audience in stitches with a selection of poems including; ‘My Daughter is a Donington Goth’ and ‘Swear to be Good’ from his cleverly designed Poetry Tapas collection.
In the past, Rob worked as a mental health nurse for the NHS, and often talks about the funny side of some of his experiences in his poems.
The giggle-inducing ‘COPD Singalong’, which was originally written as a commission about how choral singing can help with symptoms of chronic pulmonary disease, was a firm favourite among the audience.
Audience member, Elliot Luxton said, ”My favourite poem was ‘A Very Chilled Robbery’.
“I was very much impressed by his whole performance.”
Rob helped to set up WORD!, a poetry and spoken word organisation running activities across the East Midlands, when it was founded 18 years ago.
Alongside performing, he also delivers comedy-based workshops for members of the ’Wednesday Words’ group.
