Sean Lock: Purple Van Man Review

Sean Lock treated comedy fans to an evening with a difference last night as he entertained the crowds at a sold out William Aston Hall.

The star of 8 Out Of 10 Cats made his debut appearance in Wrexham with his new tour, Purple Van Man. Although the tour is still in its early days, it was crammed full of observational comedy and anecdotes that rarely fell flat.

There was no direct theme to the show, nor was there any reasoning behind the show’s title. Instead the comedian dived straight into almost 2 hours of comedy, taking the audience on a unique and surreal journey through a diverse range of topics.

Kicking the show off with a segment on Margaret Thatcher, Sean Lock recounted the moment he found out about her death, before explaining the damage he did to his car in the process.

In fact no topical stone was left unturned as the comedian explained why he had started to believe in God again and his explanation on why Atheists allow the ‘evil people’ of the world to get away with things. This quickly turned to a debate about meerkat adverts and how awful cracker jokes are.

One of the highlights of the show was Sean Lock tackling the loud slamming of the door at the back of the hall whenever someone left the room. Yelling “I have feelings too” when the door once again slammed, the comedian attempted to continue on with the set before once again being interrupted by someone knocking some bottles over. Taking the interruptions in his stride Sean Lock was clearly enjoying himself when he announced that people had even started tunneling out of the room.

The surreality of the show hit its peak when the comedian tackled the subject of being a centaur whose body is facing the wrong way. This lead to a demonstration after the interval, with Sean Lock running onto the stage with half a horses body attached to him.

Some of the best jokes of the night surrounded his wife and children, with Sean Lock telling the audience that he has to be careful of what he tells his wife in the months leading up to Christmas because he doesn’t know what he’ll end up with. ‘I want to live in a world where’, was another of the show’s strong points, with the comedian reeling off a series of musing that would make the world an ideal place to live in.

The show ended with a rather bizarre encore, which concluded the show perfectly. After a very brief question and answer session, Sean Lock took it upon himself to perform a ballet sketch across the stage, single handedly telling the tale of a princess who eventually married an ant. The segment went on for quite a while, however it worked perfectly with both the audience and the comedian clearly enjoying every moment of the encore.

The show is still in its early days, however with a DVD release already planned and plenty more dates left in the tour, it’s inevitable that any minor glitches in the show will be ironed out.

The evening was eventful, unique and hilarious, proving Sean Lock is one of the best, and most interesting comedians in the country.