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Apparently Rob Newman always comes to Norwich to try out new material as no one’s opinion matters this far up the M11! I wish I’d pointed out that the M11 stops a good 60 miles before it gets to Norwich.

When I was at school we went on a trip during some sort of design and technology week and on the coach one of my schoolmates had brought a recording of The Mary Whitehouse Experience from the radio. It was brilliant! Shortly after I got addicted to the TV show. When Punt & Dennis and Newman & Baddiel parted company I continued watching Newman & Baddiel on their new show religiously. I saw Punt & Dennis when they came to the Theatre Royal in Norwich, enjoyed them on Radio 2’s It’s Been a Bad Week and more recently on Radio 4’s Now Show. You could say I’m pretty addicted the Newman & Cos particular sense of humour.

However, I had never seen Rob Newman live or without David Baddiel (on the TV) so I was really keen to see him, especially as he was playing in Norwich (on a very snowy night). My only disappointment throughout the whole night was the total lack of reference to The Mary Whitehouse Experience or Newman & Baddiel. We didn’t even get a “That’s you that is!”.

Rob Newman is clearly very intelligent, well educated and extremely articulate. A far cry from the impression given in the old days. If he doesn’t speak Russian fluently then he is very good at convincing an audience that he can. I had forgotten about his voice, which is kind of posh with a slight impediment. I found the material very funny. Rob was clearly showing off just how much stuff he knows, but that’s fine. We enjoy that. On a couple of occasions he played the Ukulele, reasonable well but with plenty of room for improvement. He was even kind enough to pose for a photo which I completely failed to take properly. That got a laugh. At just over an hour this show was the perfect length for the material.

Would I go and see Rob Newman again? Yes, I would. Especially if there’s a Mary Whitehouse Experience reunion.

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