To escalate from talking about the ice bucket challenge to Kier Starmer and Gandhi getting a blowjob in just a couple of sentences is an impressive challenge – and one that Frank Skinner effortlessly undertook in his critically acclaimed stand-up show 30 Years of Dirt.
When Skinner described the show as a man trying and failing at clean comedy, he wasn’t wrong. Discussing the logistics of ‘risking the blades of a drone’ to take the perfect dick pic was just one of many bizarre scenarios which, while some may have considered distasteful, others would consider an undeniable mastery of comedy. Especially when paired tastefully with some explicit hand actions which aided Skinner in branding dirty scenarios into the audience’s eyelids.
Skinner’s relaxed demeanour creates a charming stage presence that frames the show as an hour of classical chatty-style comedy. It feels less like a performance and more like an hour of amusing recollections and cheeky imaginings unravelling into some sharp one-liners; his dry clarification of “that was a joke, obviously” acted as a great reminder that we were, in fact, watching a stand-up show rather than an off the cuff hilarious monologue.
That’s not to shrink the clear mastery of each sentence, however – it’s clear that at this point in his tour, having already played 64 regional dates and 41 in the west end, Skinner was in control of every word.
Despite these well-crafted, seemingly off-the-cusp jokes generating consistent chuckles, Skinner’s interaction with the crowd was easily what triggered the roars. The unexpected tension of the unknown that comes with crowd participation is always a bum-clenching, and therefore exhilarating, part of a stand-up show – it’s what separates this show from the countless others he’s done up and down the country.
His night at Manchester Opera did not disappoint, with the front row comprised of an unfortunate Gregg Wallace lookalike and the real Mason Radcliffe (well, the actor) from Coronation Street. Despite being in a full theatre, an intimate, gossipy feel was crafted through Skinner’s witty back-and-forth chats. His mention, or rather his flummoxed shoutout, of the drug dealers hiding drugs in Heaton Park months before the Oasis gig especially seemed to unite the audience in a wave of prideful Mancunian chuckles.
For the encore, Skinner re-entered the stage almost as quick as he left it, quipping “I hate that; when I come out thinking standing ovation- oh no, they’re leaving”. Of course, this was Skinner’s attempt to maintain a somewhat humble character, considering there was a standing ovation of a solid ten people, shockingly excluding the Gregg Wallace look-alike.
30 Years of Dirt is a true reflection of Skinner’s quick-witted, phallus-centric, relaxed and dry style. A solid contribution to his work, not offering a starkly new style or groundbreakingly complex type of comedy, but, rather, providing a light-hearted display of well-crafted, squirm-inducing one-liners.
Skinner accurately summed up his show in a recent interview with us, when he said “I’ve always just done jokes” as opposed to sophisticated themed shows. His simple stage set-up of a lone table carrying the weight of a single water glass reflected just that: an unpretentious man, talking about knobs, and getting a lot of laughs.
