Press tickets for review.

“An energetic show with giggles guaranteed from the fast-talking kiwi comedian”

“Have you ever even watched a comedy show before?”. If you hadn’t picked up, Alex was sceptical about whether I’d enjoy stand up comedy. What Alex had failed to remember was yes, yes I had! And it was with him!

Though, he was onto something. I’m not the biggest stand-up comedy fan. I have to be really in the mood to watch things like ‘COMEDY LIVE AT THE APOLLO’, and previously I’ve only ever watched Joel Dommett live and I found him outrageously funny.

Alex, on the other hand, loves stand up comedy. He’s seen a whole host of comedians which is why I thought it would be a fab night out for us at De Montfort Hall on Friday 23rd February. Alex had mentioned after panto in 2022 that he’d like to see Jarred Christmas live, and it seems many people had the same thought after their most recent panto because the theatre was packed out.

One of my largest gigs, ever! Jarred gleefully proclaimed on Instagram stories that day.

And when we wandered into the De Montfort Hall, J20 in hand, it was overwhelming even for me to see how many had turned out to support the funniest member of the panto cast for the evening.

Jarred describes the moment when he stepped on stage as “amazing”. A member of the audience though had different ideas and was restraining themselves to shout “Ey up Larry!” which makes me wonder how many other Leicester locals were itching to shout it!

Now, the show itself starts with Jarred hyping himself up from off-stage which instantly I found myself with a knowing smile. With the projection remaining constant with a TV sized image of Jarred and the words “Jarred Christmas Live in Leicester”, and zero props, it meant all of the humour had to come from Jarred, and his own deliveries.

There was plenty of back-and-forth bantering with the ‘asking for it’ front rowers, and as luck would have it, even a hype guy on the second row who coincidentally went to the same school in New Zealand as Jarred who could vouch for the school segment stories. It was a night of anecdote after anecdote. I, in particular, enjoyed the dinner dates anecdote and the bath-time stories, I also got a good laugh out of the neighbour break-up story.

It seems it wasn’t just me who loved the coincidental appearance from the ex-alumni, speaking with Jarred, he describes one of his highlights of the show was the random guy verifying that the PE teacher ‘was a massive tool’. I think lots of us enjoyed playing a prank on the guy who went to the toilet – and Jarred holds that childish prank as a fond memory too.

Jarred might have performed at De Montfort Hall before, at both panto and Leicester Comedy Festival previews, but this one felt undeniably different for the kiwi comedian. “950 awesome people had chosen to come and see me. Awesome is the word. A very lovely Leicester crowd’.

I couldn’t have put it better myself. Leicester is always such a great crowd. Respectful, yet involved. We turn up for our community. There were so many people in the audience that I caught up with over the interval that had never been to stand up before but were loving it and giving it a chance because of Jarred’s amazing panto involvement.

Jarred oozes charisma and is a natural comedian. I very much look forward to seeing Jarred back on our stages in the future!

Keep an eye on Jarred’s socials for further announcements of his whereabouts!

Missed out on this one? There’s plenty more comedy coming to De Montfort Hall to get your laughs such as:

• Frankie Boyle (26th March)
• Al Murray (13th April)
• Jimmy Carr (2nd October)
• Paddy McGuinness (1st November)