FRANK SKINNER: MAN IN A SUIT | LIVE REVIEW
St David’s Hall, Cardiff, Sat 12 Apr
Frank Skinner told us that his return to the stand-up stage after a 7 year hiatus would reveal a more sophisticated and mature side, relying less on ‘filth’ than the mid 90’s Midlands lad who wowed and shocked huge arena crowds with his direct and unapologetic sexual anecdotes.
This certainly seemed to be the case during the first half of this show, as Skinner walked slowly back and forth along the stage, his suit and tie trying to portray a move away from the football fan persona he embodied in his youth. Yet, whilst being entertaining, this was never enthralling; there was no clear narrative or message being delivered here, just a nice guy talking gently about getting on in life and dealing with the realities of being a recovering alcoholic – ‘The thing about not drinking is that you can always remember what happened the night before: nothing.’
One gets the sense that, as Skinner has aged, so too has the audience that he is able to attract, and because of this the slow pace of the first half seemed to fit in nicely with what we had come to expect of a more ‘sophisticated’ act. This, however, was somewhat thrown on its head in a far more raucous second half when the 57 year old seemed to revert to type, as tales of oral sex for the middle aged and a repeated use of the ‘C word’ appeared to jolt and thrill in equal measure.
Perhaps this was the intention after all, to lull the crowd into a comfort zone before submitting them to ‘classic Frank’ when their guards were down.
I doubt whether this would satisfy his desire to use less filth, but he gave the audience what they wanted in the end. Frank Skinner may be getting old, but, despite the declarations to the contrary, he doesn’t mind being the old Frank Skinner.
words ROB HARRIES