Laugh In The Park - Cultivated

Improv troupe Noise Next Door stole the show from headliner Geoff Norcott on the second night of Norwich’s Laugh In the Park comedy festival.

The four-man group got the tent shouting and singing along to their less than PC songs, made up on the spot to feature Ipswich Town, bananas, funerals and knitting – and if you didn’t find the songs a little offensive (and incredibly funny) then their dancing was definitely questionable.

Host Tiff Stevenson never quite seemed to find her rhythm, with a series of anecdote covering her pre-Covid trip to Louisiana and a curious conversation about pigs and terrorists, biological pressures, and the joys of being a step mum.

Northern Irishman Martin Mor definitely had presence on the stage – both from his bulk and his beard – and gave a scatological set that focused surprisingly heavily on his dog’s toilet habits and his plan to reconfigure male and female toilets.

Geoff Norcott increasingly feels like an (amusing) parody of himself, with a knowing dash of ‘controversy’ thrown in to help him appear to have an edge, while treading a fairly safe line. It’s true he risked material on David Attenborough and Harry and Meghan, but his observational comedy on the difference between men and women was decidedly non-risky stuff.

The same couldn’t be said for his very direct intervention with some unruly audience members, who got a well-deserved and direct dressing down. On the whole this was an appreciative and good-natured audience – even with the poor weather – and a welcome return for Red Card Comedy’s big top festival.