Have you been to any of the Liverpool Comedy Festival gigs yet this year?
I saw Simon Amstell last Saturday (a little birthday treat to myself) and Gina Yashere a couple of days earlier.
Maybe you can't get to someone you really want to see and therefore might flick through a review myself or one of my colleagues has done to see if it was any good?
Well, don't rely on us this weekend because Echo reviewers have been banned from two of the festival's biggest gigs.
I kid you not.
I hasten to add that it's not the festival organisers' fault.
My colleague Greg was due to see Jimmy Carr tonight (I've reviewed him three years out of four and Greg would have brought his own new and unique viewpoint to the table) and I was pencilled in for Frankie Boyle tomorrow.
Alas, we've been informed we're not ALLOWED to review the gigs by the pair's management company as - wait for it - they've had quite enough publicity as it is and our reviews may mean we as a newspaper aren't as keen to run stories about Carr or Boyle when THEY need them running!
They'll be lucky!!!
I have to admit that not much shocks me any more, but that did and I indulged in some laughter of my own - hollow laughter.
So, comedy fans out there, I hope those of you able to get tickets enjoy Jimmy Carr and Frankie Boyle because non of our other readers will get the chance to hear about their shows.
Unless of course, any of you who go over the weekend send me your own reviews and (as long as they're not offensive or libellous) I'll run them here online.
