Abnormally Funny People Show- Live

Abnormally Funny People is ‘a group of gifted standup comedians strutting their funny stuff.’ As the name might suggest, they also have disabilities.

As well as doing live shows, they have a monthly disability-related podcast, the latest edition of which was recorded last night in London. This was the first time that the podcast was recorded in front of a live audience. The event marked the annual UN International Day of Disabled People, which was held yesterday.

The panel was made up of several well known disabled stand-up comedians. Simon Minty and Steve Best, the founders of Abnormally Funny People, were joined by Paul Carter, Tanyalee Davis, Chris McCausland and Lee Ridley, better known as Lost Voice Guy. Steve Best is the only member of the group who is non-disabled, but as the others said, in one of the funniest moments of the evening, they are inclusive!

The evening began with the panel sharing their disability-related moments of the month. Paul Carter’s particularly sticks in my mind. When at a dinner with a group of thalidomide survivors (he isn’t a thalidomide survivor, but he does have short arms) he was worried about what to eat. He described very humorously how eating spaghetti bolognese outside your own house with short arms is never a good idea!

Chris McCausland provided the first set of stand-up comedy. I was very pleased that his set didn’t focus on his blindness, instead covering ‘normal’ topics, ranging from fatherhood and choosing baby names to the (extremely hot) weather when he visited Brazil.

Tanyalee Davis followed. Again, her set didn’t focus on her disability, dwarfism. Instead, she covered her relationship with her boyfriend, who is of average height. Her focus was on sex, a topic that, sadly, few disabled people are ever open about. So, a disabled woman’s sex life was not something I expected to see covered in a live comedy show. However, I am a disabled woman myself and so, for me, the surprise was a pleasant one.

Then the panel reviewed and rated some useful products aimed at disabled people. The two that stick in my mind are the hydrant hydration system, which is basically a bottle with a straw, and a talking alarm clock. The panel decided that the bottle with a straw would simply be good for anyone with a hangover, and Chris McCausland didn’t like the talking alarm clock- not because it wasn’t useful to him as a blind person but because he and his wife are parents to a toddler, haven’t slept for over a year and the clock kept waking them up!

Lost Voice Guy completed the comedy line-up with a set that did, unlike the other two, focus on his disability. However, this is to be expected because, as a man with Cerebral Palsy, he is the first stand up comedian to use a communication device. He has built his stand-up career on the fact that he has ”lost his voice” and has a communication aid which makes him sound very similar to Stephen Hawking. Luckily for Lost Voice Guy, the audience was too busy appreciating his very funny jokes (he was in a Steps tribute band called Ramps) to mind too much about the fact that they were coming out of an Ipad!

I had never seen any Abnormally Funny People shows before last night. So, at the start of the evening, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. However, by the end, I was wondering where the first part of the group’s name came from. Because in my eyes, there is nothing abnormal about their comedy. They may look a little different to most, but they are all extremely funny people- and, surely, at a comedy show, that’s all that really matters.