Ken Dodd Live at the Grand Opera House, York Review
Ken Dodd Live
Grand Opera House, York
27 September 2014
Reviewed by Emma Wasson
On arriving at the Grand Opera House in York as far as I could tell, the venue was completely full. All of the theatre staff were polite and worked extremely hard, managing toilet and bar queues, on what was turned out to be an exceptionally long night for them.
Ken Dodd opened the show just after 7pm by marching on drumming his Great Drum of Knotty Ash, extremely smartly dressed with a bright red shirt, striped tie and white jacket and launched immediately into his act. His comic genius reigned supreme throughout as he performed non-stop to the audience for an initial 90 minutes. He started with many one liners which got the audience warmed up and quickly swopped between jokes about Yorkshire, the royal baby, MPs expenses and of course the Inland Revenue!!! From the very beginning he openly joked about the length of his shows and used this as part of his act, having never seen his performance before I was curious as to how long it would last, and whether I would be able to stay until the very end. However I knew we were in for a good night as he flowed easily from one gag to another with the audience enjoying every minute.
Also on stage with Ken were his two musicians, Terry Bell on keyboard and Malcolm Garrett on drums, and it wasn’t long before he was doing his community singing, as he called it, and had the audience joining in his songs. It was wonderful to watch as he performed his medley of songs, throughout which he managed to incorporate his jokes quite effortlessly.
The two musicians spent most of their time sat on stage, Malcolm was incorporated into the act as Ken asked him set questions during his show, for which he was required to give one line answers. They not only played the tunes for the songs Ken performed, they complimented his act by providing additional musical accompaniment to enhance the jokes.
Ken constantly interacted with the audience and enjoyed asking questions about the relationships of certain couples in the stalls and where they were from and he came across one gentleman who was from Dumfries. Obviously being in York nobody expected a man from Scotland in the audience and Ken referred to him repeatedly throughout his act, which was appreciated by the audience.
The first special guest on stage was Andy Eastwood, who is an exceptionally talented musician. He played the banjo, ukulele and violin, with such speed and accuracy I was mesmerised throughout. The audience were treated to a range of musical styles from the classics from the movies, such as the theme tune to James Bond, Titanic and Superman and even country music on the violin to the William Tell overture on the banjo, and classic George Formby.
Just before 9pm the master of comedy Ken Dodd was back on stage, dressed in his trademark long red furry coat, complete with tall union jack hat and white gloves. We were then treated to more traditional humour, where he brought his ‘page 33’ girl out on stage dressed in a maid’s outfit and did a short double act with her. At around 10.15 the ice cream vendors came into the theatre, ready for the interval, only to be ushered back, as Ken continued, obviously already running over his allotted interval time.
The second half began with music and songs performed by Sybie Jones, dressed in a beautiful evening gown, who played a mix of tunes from the different eras on the piano whilst singing. She also performed a few numbers on the flute, finishing with the song “Sands of Time” which she had written and Ken had performed on Songs of Praise.
Then Ken came back on stage for his final act, donning a new smart outfit, holding his sarnies and flask again making fun of his long running performances. Ken then performed until well after midnight, his enthusiasm and charisma not flagging once whilst continuing to treat the audience to his own unique style of good old fashioned comedy. He did a hilarious sketch involving Quasimodo which had the audience in stitches and also revealed towards the end one of his dummies “Dickie Mint” and performed his ventriloquist act to the audience; many of whom had obviously seen Ken Dodd many times before were extremely pleased to see this particular act.
After reading out the special mentions Ken Dodd finished his act with a song dedicated to absent friends. It was a poignant moment of the show, allowing a little quiet time before he received a standing ovation and rapturous cheers from the crowds.
Even though the show does last much longer than normal theatre performances, it was a joy to watch Ken Dodd throughout, and those who had to leave early, just got up and left quietly. However the majority of the audience stayed to appreciate the whole performance until the early hours and it was clear from the continuous laughter throughout the show and the long standing ovation at the end that everyone had thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Considering Ken’s age he is a remarkable man, full of boundless energy and enthusiasm. He had the audience in stitches all night and even though people had heard many of the jokes before, he had a different twist on them and delivered each one in his own unique style. He exploits the English language to the full, and instead of using maybe 1 or 2 words to describe something he uses as many as can possibly be used and then when the audience least expects it drops in the unexpected phrase and gets his laughs from the audience. He does touch on risqué subjects but uses innuendos, facial expressions and vocal gestures to convey his jokes without the need for any swearing.
He did slip into the act many Yorkshire towns and villages, describing them well or mickey-taking them for what they are known for locally, the audience all took it in good faith. Even though my husband and I were perhaps some of the youngest members of the audience, and some of the jokes and songs were aimed at the more mature viewer, it did not matter at all, as we could still appreciate the humour of the situations described, and sit back and enjoy the songs that he performed.
Ken Dodd gave a fantastic live performance full of ‘happiness’ which he clearly shares extremely well with the audience. Ken Dodd is a unique comic genius whose humour has touched so many people and he was certainly appreciated by the York audience and I’m sure he will be for many years to come.
I would give this a rating of 5 out of 5, and definitely recommend it to others.
Rating: 5/5 
Ken Dodd is on tour until 26 December 2014. For more information and venues visit www.kendoddshows.com.
