As opening gambits go “I’ve been doing quite a lot of telly recently" is an understatement for Lucy Beaumont. If you missed her on the Dave mockumentary series Meet The Richardsons, you could have caught her on The Wheel, Taskmaster or Would I Lie To You? And you'll soon be seeing more of her in stand-up mode. Last night's show was filmed for future broadcast.
Some of her umpteen TV appearances get a mention in this hugely pleasing set, entitled The Trouble & Strife!, between humorous dispatches from her scatty off-screen life. The topics – parenting, ageing, friendships – might be quotidian, but Beaumont brings a freshness and an original flourish to each yarn. Whether the stories are entirely factual or not you will be laughing way too much to be bothered.
There is a gossipy, conspiratorial tone at times, such as when she compares her longstanding friends to her schoolgate "mum friends" or discusses a north/south divide when it comes to worldliness. She and husband, fellow comedian Jon Richardson, moved from Surbiton to Yorkshire, where she discovered that one of her neighbours had never – brace yourselves – eaten raisins.
Motherhood is a rich source for laughs, from her young daughter developing a precocious penchant for olives to doubting the benefits of breastfeeding: "Don't do it... they can't run faster." References to Matalan and Greggs evoke the brand-referencing spirit of Victoria Wood in a welcome way.
Inevitably cheeseparing spouse Jon gets a namecheck too, most notably during a section when she talks about fans recognising the couple at the most inopportune moments. If you think being approached by admirers in public toilets is bad, Richardson's bucket-related brush with his public is eminently more buttock-clenchingly ignominious.
While Beaumont claims to have anger issues, embarrassment is the theme that runs through the show. A number of highlights are classic Beaumont gaffes, including getting a neighbour's name and the name of their pet chicken muddled or booking a "butler in the buff" for a party and having to make smalltalk while waiting for everyone to arrive.
Beaumont puts her wealth of anecdotes down to growing up in Hull, a place she describes as full of piratical trawlermen, where everyone had either "gangrene or a perm." After eighty thoroughly entertaining minutes in her company it is abundantly clear that she has such a laser-guided eye for comic detail she would be equally bursting with terrific tales if she came from Huddersfield or High Wycombe.
