There’s a definite sense of travel being a theme within this night of comedy at Woolwich Works’ Fireworks Factory venue. There’s appreciation for the audience travelling at all in the hot weather, although as host Thanyia Moore warms up the audience by investigating the age ranges of attendees, she does get sidetracked by the unexpected story of how a couple celebrating 25 years of marriage first met: (the husband’s answer of “she was my wife’s best friend” would be enough to throw any comedian).
But the travel theme really gets going with the evening’s first act, Aurie Styla. Having recently performed his comedy act all over the world, Styla has experienced many forms of travel, from using enough points to upgrade to Business Class on Emirates Airlines to enduring the toilets of an Amtrak train from New York to Toronto.
But the bulk of Styla’s routine involves his experience of the cruise ship market – apparently a growing market for the stand-up circuit, but which remains dominated by older couples. There is a stereotype about such cruises being a hotbed of, to put it politely, sexual liberation in later life, and to listen to Styla’s experiences, it’s a cliché based on fact.
There is a sense that Styla is at risk of falling into the trap of relying on his tour experiences as the source of new work, just as songwriters who are always on the road migrate away from the slices of life that kickstarted their initial popularity. Still, thanks to the presence of cruise-going couples in the audience, he retains enough connection for his travel tales to feel relatable.
For Thor Stenhaug, the travel theme remains, although in his case, the travel has been from his home country of Norway to London. Along the way, he examines Britons’ double standards – we find second languages sexy when they’re French or Italian, but Scandinavian languages make us think of the Muppets’ chef – and some of our vagueness around time (Brockwell Park closes “at dusk”, for example). There’s also some confusion around private education, too, which in his home country is reserved for children deemed too stupid for state schooling (he misses a trick by overlooking the fact that it’s arguably not all that different here).
Stenhaug also previews some of his material for his forthcoming Edinburgh Fringe show, One Night Stand Baby, which focuses on his conception as the result of a one-night stand between his mother and a soldier. There’s a sexual frankness in his family story that surprises even himself, but it’s also so self-deprecatingly charming that tales of a family history of chlamydia seem quaint.
As the night’s headliner, Ed Gamble is the best-known name on the bill. He starts with some relatable content – the weirdness that is local WhatsApp groups – before his own tale of such a thing segues into a scatological story, including the local nosy neighbour and an electrician being caught short.
But the bulk of Gamble’s set is what reinforces the evening’s unintentional theme of travel, as he recounts details of his and his wife’s honeymoon in Las Vegas. Having chosen the venue in an attempt to prove to their friends that they’re fun people, they soon find out that, in fact, Vegas is not for them at all (“it’s too hot, and everyone’s sad”). Tales of a drag brunch segue into what it takes for a drag queen to tuck, followed by an excruciating tale of a couple’s Thai massage that turned into a series of physical assaults that felt “more like a WWE tag team”.
Like Styla, Gamble is capable of descending into some quite filthy side alleys within his routines, but it’s all delivered with such a sense of English bafflement that its rudeness is always tempered in good nature. It all adds up to an evening of comedy that makes the travel to Woolwich on one of the hottest days of the year feel truly worthwhile.
Reviewed on 12 July 2025
