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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Bruce Dessau's rating
Reader rating
Description: The American stand-up with her acclaimed show Jesus Is Magic.
Trains: Tube: Hammersmith 
Phone: 0844844 4748
Website: www.hammersmithapollo.net
Email: info@hammersmithapollo.net
Extra info: Pub
Politically incorrect: Sarah Silverman joked about abortion, rape and Jews, with toilet humour and songs in equal parts charming and offensive
She has been called “the world’s hottest, most controversial comedian”. And last night, making her full-length UK debut in front of an audience that included Hollywood’s Keanu Reeves and Brass Eye’s Chris Morris, Sarah Silverman was certainly controversial, though not for the eagerly-anticipated taboo-busting reasons. How many other stand-up comedians would dare to charge £35 for a performance of less than an hour?
If the outrageous 37-year-old had not returned for an impromptu Q&A session one feared for the Apollo’s upholstery.
In the end the irate crowd was placated but this was still a disappointment. For someone who has made a name for herself with her outspoken humour and an uproariously obscene internet hit about her fictional affair with Matt Damon, she was strangely shy and retiring. Dressed in a newly purchased Topshop mini-skirt, Silverman was certainly politically incorrect. There were gags about abortion, Mexicans and rape. And lots of gags about Jews — Jewish herself, she wondered aloud why so many of her persuasion buy German cars. But there was a lot more nervy restraint than expected. Albeit restraint that did not stop her resorting to a bottomless pit of toilet jokes. Very funny toilet jokes, but still toilet jokes.
The songs that punctuated proceedings were the real highlights, in equal parts charming and offensive, with her sing-song voice taking the sting out of couplets such as “I love you more than bears love honey/I love you more than Jews love money.” As with Ricky Gervais, her quips are not racist, they are rug-pulling observations highlighting our uncomfortable attitudes. And this narcissistic star is invariably the butt of the barb, such as when she recalled mistaking Kanye West for Barack Obama.
Silverman is clearly a very talented performer, with a marvellously mobile mouth that can turn from sulky to sunny in a syllable. But her anxiety seemed to distract her. She has been using her deliciously disingenuous line about not donating to African charities — “I don’t give money. I don’t want them to spend it on drugs” — for years, yet this time she seemed to be holding back.
There was some audacious material here that was so darkly witty it hurt, but not nearly enough. Rolling Stone magazine has called Silverman “the funniest woman alive”. For just a short part of last night’s very short set Rolling Stone was right.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Like Piaras, I'm a fan of Sarah's, but was ultimately disappointed by the show. With booking fee, it was £49 and the show was just 40 mins long. The support act was ill...well get another one then! We had to wait ages in the bar - tickets said doors open at 6.30pm but nothing happened on stage until nearly 9! Lots of annoyed people.
Sarah hadn't prepared, read a lot of stuff off her stool and obviously hadn't rehearsed. I've seen everyone from Billy Connolly to Bill Hicks via Bill Bailey, Rhona Cameron and Eddie Izzard. Sarah was definitely about a 5/10. She didn't get the audience on her side at all and I left as soon as the house lights came up. My wife thought there was more to come but I realised that this was it. Noone else moved...the set really was that short that no-one could believe it was over. I could sense it was going to get ugly and I didn't want to stay and watch.
I think it did impact on her because I had to meet 2 friends from New York for a late night drink in their well-known Soho hotel. Sarah, Julian Barrett and some of her crew turned up about 11.30. It was the least lively after show I've ever seen. And not a lot of jokes flying around. I suspect it had been a bit of a shock to her. She had the material, she had the love before the show started, and it's just a shame that on this occasion she threw it away.
- Des Burkinshaw, London, Uk
Saw her repeat the Obama / Kanye west routine on "8 out of 10 cats"...yawn.
- Phil, Ardrossan, Scotland.
I blame Comedy Central who continually promote show where's it's OK for the stars to read their punchlines from cards. Take the "roast" shows where they line up to read their gags and get over hyped laughs from a crowd just pleased to be there for free! At least in the UK comedy acts write fresh material for live show. Those with sketch shows actually recreate them on stage with guest stars making them unique and worth the money. Unfortunately no one told Silverman the crowd wasn't there to see a weak US cable show.
- Richard Smith, Brooklyn, NY.
It is difficult for me to believe anyone believes this woman is funny. Her style is juvenile, low and banal - she is the LEAST funniest woman alive - embarrassingly bad...
- Abf, London, UK.
I travelled from Ireland to catch this show and was really disappointed. She told the Obama/Kanye joke on Jonathan Ross on the Friday night and then repeats it on stage as though it was completely fresh. Does she think no-one in the UK doesn't watch TV?
The hour long delay and lack of support act didn't help matters, but her lethargic attitude didn't help matters. She was obviously unprepared, reading her set list off the stool as she took swigs of water (in the process breaking any moment she had managed to build.)
The Q&A was cringeworthy as she was unable to even work the crowd. Funniest moment of the night was during the Q&A when a punter requested a song and then had to shout the lyrics out to her as she had completely forgotten them.
Waste of my time traveling over for this mess.
- Piaras Kelly, Dublin, Ireland
My ticket was £42, but it was impossible not to pay a £6 booking fee as the Hammersmith Apollo box office is only open on evenings there is a show (not that often), so you have to use an agency. I think the arrogance of it all was incredible. Fobbing the crowd off with a hello message via a video phone instead of a support act (how difficult must it be to get a decent act in London on a Sunday when they knew Steve Agee was ill). It worked out as £1 per minute - I probably paid £3 to watch her tune her guitar. Yet she forgot lyrics and seemed to have no new material since the DVD which was a two year-old show. A really poor effort. She has lost a fan in me.
- Ron, London
Very, very disappointing show. We were shocked that the show was so short and her ability to improvise was terrible! Most of the gags were years old and widly seen elsewhere. There was no support, a very badly projected trailer for her new TV show and then a 35 minute set. The Q and A was excruciating. She was clearly lost without a script and has lost 4 very big fans . I feel really ripped off.
- Fatcat, London, UK
hugely disappointing! and our tickets were £48 not £35, and they weren't the best in the house either! She is NOT a talented live performer, she cannot improvise to save her life and had to refer to a cheat sheet all through the performance. She had to come out at the end because nobody could believe the set finished in 40 minutes and everyone was staying put, she came to tell the audience to 'go home' literally and clearly felt she had to do some Q&A to redeem herself at least a little bit...an audience member requested a song from her show, she couldn't remember the lyrics which she supposedly herself wrote, this looked pathetic (helpfully said audience member sang the lyrics for her). She might have a very successful tv show but this does not make her a good stand up comedian...she couldn't even deliver the punch lines well, even though some of the content was very funny indeed... disappointing all around. Oh and they showed a sequence of video clips from her show for about 15 minutes before she came out on stage!!!
- Maria, London
