Charlie's Comedians - A - Addison, Chris

Chris Addison is lovely. He's very very thin and quite tall with dark curly hair that makes him look boyish (especially in The Thick of It where he plays Ollie/In the Loop where he's Toby). I've only seen Chris Addison once (as in stand up; I've spied him wandering 'round Edinburgh!) and his recent show is supposed to really different to his older ones which were big thematic shows in which he dealt with topics such as evolution, the perodic table and Englishness.

I wish I'd seen these shows - very much! But that's not to say his current stuff isn't up to much; quite the opposite: his show is one of the best I've seen. It may be partly a question of expectations - I wasn't sure what he'd be like or if I'd find him that funny (I love him on TV but then they're not written by him so I didn't know - I'd always thought of him of one of Richard's people rather than one of mine and so ensured we got front row tickets for R's benefit). The front row seats ended up having a lovely benefit for me (Chris Addison kept responding to me and how much I was laughing which was so great). Also, he's very charming and has a lovely Northern accent (he's from Manchester) and the same (or at least similar) political ideas to me and my friends (generally). But he's somewhat posh (well, a bit middle class, I guess) and he does a fair amount about that.

One of the best things about him was how angry he was (and this was February when we still had a Labour government) about things being so shit. And he really cared about voting and the then-upcoming election. There were bits of his show about the gym (which he doesn't need) and his school. He didn't talk about Skins - but then why would he?

I'll definitely see him again (in December actually as he's doing 9 Lessons... - of which loads more later!!) and would recommend him with hesitation!

And here he is:

He's 38! Can't quite believe it.