I’m sitting in a pub on a cold, Tuesday evening in November in East London, writes Colin Taylor. There’s a few other folk here but it's not busy. 10 minutes to go before the doors open for this evening’s BN Naked Comedy Night. Usually, Naturists turn up well before the advertised start time of an event. “Where are they all?” I texted a friend. I nip to the loo and when I emerge there is a queue the length of the pub to get through to the upstairs venue!
An eclectic mix of three acts entertained the 60+ attendees; sadly the usual ratio of women:men were there to watch. One of the acts described the venue as entering the spirit of being naked – beige walls, no décor and no actual stage….
Host, Ben Van Der Velde warmed the crowd up and in prime position were some of the best hecklers in the front row. We were not disappointed with some of his reactions to their comments. He was familiar to those who had seen him introducing the comedy night at Nudefest. He explained he wouldn’t be appearing naked as it “just didn’t feel right” asking acts to come along and tell them he too was getting his kit off as well as the audience.
First up was a Sikh comedian Daman Bamrah with plenty of jokes about his religion and lifestyle from the Punjab. Kate Lucas was next and her comedy, mostly via song with guitar accompaniment ranged from tales about what if you didn’t like your child, the killing of “Cashier Number 4” from Santander, to a skit about the demographics of Waitrose customers.
The headline act was the very dry-witted UK-based French comedian Marcel Lucont. With red wine glass in hand his deadpan demeanour and heavy accent hid the very funny comment he made on a variety of topics including how big the sand particles are on the Naturist beach in Brighton. He also gave us a choice of a number of poems. He was not an arrogant French comedian, he told us, just confident, assured. His glass empty, he left the “stage” (there is no stage, he told us but he couldn’t get down from the floor!) ready for the encore he knew we would want…confidently. Marcel assuredly appeared naked and gave us descriptions of the cards he held up of variations on the soixant-neuf position in bed.
Encouraged by Marcel’s confident appearance naked, Ben finished the evening with his kit off after all!