Roy “Chubby” Brown
Production: Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown
Venue: York Royal Opera House
Date: 16.07.09
Rating: *
Sitting amidst a rowdy crowd in York’s Royal Opera House I anticipated my first encounter with ‘The King of Controversial Comedy’, northerner Royston Vasey i.e. Roy Chubby Brown. The full house and few die hard fans wearing ‘Chubby tour 2009’ t-shirts leant to the impression that his act was guaranteed to be ‘outrageous…but always funny’. However it is the latter part of this proclamation I find myself having most problems with; undoubtedly outrageous, but funny – hardly. It seemed the audience compromised the aforementioned fans and characters familiar with his ‘work’ through various enlightening videos and DVD’S such as ‘Jingle Bollocks’ (1994) and ‘King Thong’ (2005). Needless to say these titles had not entered my collection, so the Opera House was my first introduction to Chubby Browns offensive humour.
The warm up act deserves some mention. It was an energetic fusion of mo-town remixes and blues brother outfits. Buzz and the R.C Beat Band took on the hard task of warming up an audience only interested in the forthcoming perverse comedy. After a few failed attempts at audience participation, their bright orange and turquoise suits began to resemble a Butlin’s entertainment band as opposed to a support act. However the songs played were entertaining, and with some mentionable solos by the trumpet and electric guitar, by the end of their half an hour slot they received a well deserved hearty round of applause.
After a thoroughly beer orientated interval came a progressively loudening chant. ‘You fat bastard’ gradually echoed round the audience (obviously a tradition I was unfamiliar with) and out popped the rotund, patchwork clad, controversial king himself. By this point any illusions the show would be ‘something for everyone’ and ‘family fun’ were only to be pushed further aside by his resilient determination to live up to his title. Every taboo was broached in an interesting concoction of racism, sexism, with the occasional ‘dwarf’ and ‘midget’ pun thrown in for good measure. What followed can only be described as desperate attempts to perpetually shock and disgust. His songs, some choice titles include ‘Is a Golly Wog’ and ‘I am asylum seeker, we love all your benefits’; jokes, ‘What is more frightening, a ghost or a black mans cock?’ and choice props two ‘Golly Dollies’ and a prosthetic penis made out of a pair of tights, all smacked of provocative poor taste.
However I got the impression that by taking a less than favourable opinion of the show, I have somehow played into his hands. As a comedian thriving off bad press, the negative portrayals of him in the past have had little effect on his DVD and ticket sales over the span of his career. So based on that, my conclusion of Roy Chubby Brown on Tour comes down to matters of my opinion; those familiar with his comedy either love him or hate him. I (and apparently many others) hold my opinion as the latter however those that love him seem to be still buying tickets.
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I met him outside the Millennium Stadium at the 2004 Carling Cup final, seemed oright then so it must just be when he gets on stage. Not as big a Boro fan as Bob Mortimer like…..
Roy Chubby Brown makes me want to be sick.
In a burning building, I’d rather save Hitler.
His jokes are crude and unintelligent. Whether or not they’re offensive isn’t the issue- every comedian will be offensive to someone, I’m sure- he’s just not very clever with his ‘comedy’ and as such comes across as a massive cock.
fellow smoggy but not… get over urself, roy chubby brown is absolutely hilarious, i admit comedy a lot of the time requires high inteligence, just so you know, roy brown when off stage, is actually very smart and clued up, i think its quite harsh gthe way you speak about him, i went to see him last night n iv never laughd so much in my life, so shut up and get a life, if your not a fan then dont waste ur time talkin about him??