Simon Evans: Have We Met?
Evesham Town Hall
3rd December 2023
Mounted on the wall as you enter, there is a large photo of a bygone-era of Evesham’s square and the NatWest building taken right outside the Town Hall; a shoulder-high child smiles into the lens, a carefree lad rides hands-free on his bike across the square, even the policeman seems to be smiling, as is the sun and everyone in the image seems content…
Simon Evans is comfortable and content on stage and his adoption of a Rigsby-esque character, admittedly a more urbane version, is a joy to witness. The elegant high-ceilinged Town Hall was an ideal venue.
Suffice to say the historic hall was sold out for the night. Locally, when you see this many people in Evesham in tightly packed rows, they are usually picking asparagus.
My father finds nothing funnier in life than people and life itself. Evans understands this concept and the foibles and mores of the human condition are picked over like a librarian looking for a reason not to let a book out.
The birth of his son Edward was the cause celebre for much in Evans life. Not least the reasons for such a considered name. Much mirth was elicited from the process and the unforeseen punchline that included Stretch-Armstrong was a masterclass in delivery and timing. The raconteur’s story about “slut-shaming” his daughter’s friends brought forth howls of laughter. Cleary, Simon Evans does treat his offspring equally. Although, Evans admitted his son had been subjected to a great deal of urine extraction over the years…
However, the proud father showing the video of his son clearly mastering his chosen instrument showed the comedian’s true feelings. The back-story as to how the son came to own a copy of the guitar is as heart-warming as the photo in the lobby.
The comedian’s marriage has clearly been important in his life; a contented marriage that, nonetheless, was disrupted by the introduction of a mercurial dog into the home. A bloody dog, lest we forget, responsible for fatalities and all-consuming stress-levels. Still the guffaws that greeted the story of the family dog reminded all in the hall why Simon Evans has been able to celebrate a career in comedy.
Evans’ wife benefited from the pandemic lock-down, occupationally, and found herself in zoom-meetings with prominent politicians. Evans was able to offer up the gossipy titbit that Matt Hancock is a bit of a…
The comedian’s use of pathos in the final denouement created a palpable freeze-frame in the room. The introduction of death and the impact of death was sobering. As the eloquent treatise of grief was proffered an already engaged audience leaned in conspiratorially. The rhetorical ballads of Mike meeting his maker in “sniper’s alley” and Evans’ Father-in-law having “time called for him at the bar” meant we were all reflecting, as much as the comedian, when we left…
In the cold night drizzle, the scaffold bars and metal work that prop up the NatWest building stood statuesque against the velvet-black and star-less sky. I smiled knowingly to myself, as I have always enjoyed stand-up that is part comedy and part tragedy. I looked across for the lad riding his bike hands-free across the Square but he was nowhere to be seen…
By: Nicholas David Burford