Lucy Beaumont's second night of her tour in Newcastle was both hilarious and unexpectedly eye-opening, with her recent ADHD diagnosis striking a deeply personal chord with this reviewer.
Comedy has always been a big part of my upbringing, with sitcoms and panel shows constantly on the household TV. A much younger version of myself even performed in the primary school talent show, reciting jokes I found on Google while honking a clown horn to make the blatant plagiarism less egregious. So when I saw Lucy Beaumont was performing in Newcastle, I jumped at the chance to get two tickets for my mother's birthday, having previously taken her to see Sarah Millican in 2022 and Jon Richardson in 2023, both of whom were brilliant.
Despite finding Millican hilarious, I struggled to relate to much of her material about being a woman in her 40s, being a 19-year-old boy at the time. I went into this show expecting a similar experience, but with my additional years of maturity, I'd hopefully understand more of the content - being a much older 23-year-old man. What I didn't expect was to find so much of it eye-opening.
A Surprise Support Act
We sat in the stalls and waited for the show to begin, when a familiar voice spoke over the speakers. It was Lucy, introducing her supporting act: "Welcome to the stage... Alan Carr!" Immediately the room filled with laughter. "No, it's not actually Alan Carr. I couldn't afford him." I thought that was an ingenious way of breaking the ice on behalf of what I can imagine is a very nervous comedian, about to perform for a room of people expecting Lucy Beaumont.
She revealed the actual support act was Stephen Bailey, who she bigged up as one of her favourite comedians on the circuit - and he didn't let down. The next 30 minutes were filled with laughs and gasps as Stephen performed jokes that I, quite frankly, would be fired for repeating in this article. Starting his set with observations about B&M, Home Bargains and Aldi, he very quickly got through to the crowd with a sense of familiarity.
He then went on to discuss his personal life and his gripes with hygiene, all with his unique spin on each story. His segment on visiting an all-inclusive was as outrageous as it was funny, and his frequent interaction with the crowd showcased his amazingly quick wit - which took the segment off course, but never once felt jarring. His frequent call-backs also gave his set a sense of fluidity that made the whole thing brilliantly cohesive.
Main Act and a Personal Revelation
Stephen's set came to a close, and the intermission before the main act began, with everyone thoroughly warmed up for Lucy's show. Everyone took their seat for a second time in the beautiful Tyne Theatre & Opera House auditorium, eagerly awaiting the start of Lucy's show. The disembodied voice from earlier returned: "Everyone, please welcome to the stage... Me!"
She walked on to great applause and immediately the atmosphere shifted to the type of tension you feel when you just know the next words will kick you straight off your feet and have you laughing on the ground - I even heard a few laughs before she had a chance to speak. Being a big fan of Lucy Beaumont from shows like Taskmaster and 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, as well as her podcast with Sam Campbell, there was a moment at the beginning of her set where I was letting it sink in that I was in the room with her and not staring at pixels on a screen. This feeling was immediately satirised by her as she pointed out she's much smaller in real life than you'd expect, sharing a hilarious childhood anecdote about being weighed down in the wind by a brick.
Lucy went on to expertly set up various side-splitting stories about her daughter and mother, including a comment about a 'public coach', an anecdote to put you off raw garlic, and a bedtime story about a chimp. She also went into detail about her time on Celebrity Traitors and shared stories about her catastrophic few times on The Wheel, the segment which references the tour's 'Bad at Quiz Shows' name.
When watching her perform, I couldn't shake a constant feeling. She appeared nervous but in a way that made her feel very relatable. It didn't feel like I was watching a figure from my TV; it felt like I was having a laugh with a friend. But I couldn't quite place my finger on what it specifically was until the next segment. In that segment, she revealed she'd been recently diagnosed with ADHD, after being urged to get checked by people following her appearance on Bake Off, where she said she was worried she'd injure Prue Leith.
A Personal Connection
That's when it clicked. I've been in that same position (minus the Prue Leith bit). Throughout school, it was always theorised that something was up with me; I've been formally diagnosed with dyspraxia but I've had dozens of people tell me to get checked for ADHD (including professionals), and my official review falls next month, a day before the Sam Campbell show, incidentally. That was why she'd seemed so relatable to me through the entire show - I don't have a daughter, nor have I been on Celebrity Traitors, but it felt like she was speaking my language in such a specific way through the way she portrayed herself. When I looked at the stage, I saw myself; it took me right back to being on that stage in primary school - and not because of her height.
It stopped just being a comedy show and became an inspirational journey. Every anecdote about failure was juxtaposed charmingly by her success of headlining her own show. This feeling of clear-wonder didn't last long before I was hit by another hilarious and chaotic story - in particular, a story about satsumas (I mean tangerines) that had me guffaw, having been taken completely by surprise. She ended her set with a crowd work segment, but with a brilliant twist that really played into her image.
The whole drive home I periodically chuckled, remembering silly segments and stories from the set. As this review comes to an end, I realise I've been doing the same thing in the office as I've been writing this, which is a testament to just how memorable both sets were. Absolutely fantastic.
