Lee Evans: Monsters

So...this was it. What turned out (for now at least) to be the swansong, the final tour from Lee Evans.

Ok. And?

I never found the man funny, save perhaps his performance in the big screen film 'Mousehunt', where actually he and the very talented (and sadly underrated Nathan Lane) formed a good comedy duo in the Laurel and Hardy mode.

His physicality is great, he's a good physical comedian/stand-up, but his material never grabbed me and his overreliance on the use of particularly the 'F' word certainly never did.

So yes, if this was it then I say ok. We aren't short of stand-up comedians to take his place.

For many years i've been a huge fan of Lee Evans and his live stand up routines but this had me sorely disappointed. For one his humour feels forced and the "Jokes" are trodden, beaten down fantasies of what inanimate objects would say and do. Combine this with his over ecstatic facial expressions and movements to make up a sorry excuse for a joke. There is absolutely no variety in his routine at all. Most attempts are about animals, the earlier mentioned inanimate objects and how he cant understand technology, but he jumps from one bit to another and doesn't let us go along with the journey of a well told joke. I feel like he is a shadow of the man that gave us the XL tour back in 2005 which is still considered by me and many others as one of the best stand ups ever. I'm sorry to say but his impending stand up retirement is probably for the best but I will always remember the younger, funnier Lee Evans.

Lee Evans became one of the world's biggest comedians, and for good reason. Lee Evan's tours have been extremely successful because they are crazy, energetic, and most importantly, hilarious. The Roadrunner tour being another example of this, but Monsters feels tired.

Monsters feels like Evans is running out of humour to deliver to his audience, there are some really funny moments, but they are few and far between, not as frequent as previous tours.

Evans is as energetic as usual, and the formula of the comedy is unchanged, but there's less humour and more talk, less hysterics and more casual laughing, everything feels more topical at the expense of a lot of the humour.

The Monsters tour is less impressive than most of Evan's previous tours, the Big, XL, and Roadrunner tours we're much funnier, and kept my interest for a lot longer, but because it still features classic Lee Evans, it's still worth trying out, but if you're expecting humour on the level of Big, XL or Roadrunner, Monsters will leave you disappointed.

Hate to echo the negative, but the vulgarities, combined with the facial contortions and a certain insensitivity, made me quickly stop the video proceedings. If you like this sort of thing, OK, but I prefer a world that doesn't encourage it. On the other hand, Lee Evans is great in his Dr. Who & Big Fat Quiz spots and such...hilarious...just keep him away from himself! His stand-up persona, in general, is a love it or the opposite type of affair for the viewer. He should stay away from certain social issues that I was surprised to hear him trod upon. Apparently, this is what sells, so he "goes there". Having announced his imminent stand-up retirement, this comes as good news for those of us who prefer the kinder, gentler Lee Evans...Lee Evans the stand-up is dead, long live Lee Evans!

Despite having to wade through a lot of middling material to get to the gold, he's still clearly a funny man, with his characters, accents and trademark gurning. But, OMG, why oh, why does he have to sing?! Dreadful. Minus one star for that.