This entrance is a far cry from the staple exercise of most touring acts it seems customary to walk on stage to Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ any time you’re in the West Midlands. Tonight he announces that he “ didn’t think it could get worse than Leeds”. In his interview for Birmingham Review back in May, Stanhope made it clear that he was not looking forward to his trip to our fair city. The 38-year-old’s comparatively youthful energy made our host feel like an “ angry old grandpa” in the green room. Stanhope shuffles on stage in his trademark oversized suit, grumbling about O’Neill. By way of a goodbye, O’Neill boasts of how he recently fist-bumped Ozzy Osborne. By the time he’s getting the crowd clapping along to ‘We Will Rock You’, it’s time to introduce the main man. His set is short, but towards the end it’s become evident that he’s running out of material. “ If you’re depressed and medicated, clap your hands!” The room reluctantly plays along as he sings… It becomes clear that he has a tough job. O’Neill delivers rapid fire one liners (“ a bad workman doesn’t blame his tools, he blames ‘the Muslims’”) and enforces audience participation. He wears an oversized vest and skinny jeans, tinny in hand. The self-described occult comedian and heterosexual transvestite has eschewed the skirt tonight.
Andrew O’Neill seems like a strange choice to warm up for Doug Stanhope.
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