I’m a volunteer steward at Warwick Arts Centre and have been for the last year or so, though it’s been a hot minute since I wrote about my experiences there. Recently, I stewarded a live performance of Frankie Boyle’s ‘Lap of Shame’ tour, a stand-up comedy show full of rude jokes and sociopolitical commentaries. In this article, I will unpack my thoughts on the show itself as well as volunteering on the night, largely because I don’t fully understand how I feel. As a disclaimer, I wasn’t very familiar with Frankie Boyle’s comedic style and can now say that I find it distasteful more than anything else, so this won’t be a glowing review. Also, he made some sensitive jokes which, though I won’t repeat, may be referenced. Topics include cancer, necrophilia, sexual assault and the UK government (what I say really won’t be as bad as what he said). So, read on as I figure out what went on at Franke Boyle’s show and how I got through the chaotic moments when stewarding.
For those unfamiliar with him, Frankie Boyle is a Glaswegian comedian with a working-class Irish Catholic background. As well as live shows, he’s appeared on audio, TV and films like Mock the Week, Frankie Boyle’s New World Order, The Last Days of Sodom and Live at the Apollo. I’ve not watched much of his work but know from reviews, word of mouth and what I have seen that he is unapologetically outspoken and unfiltered. As you might expect, this has landed him in hot water more than a few times. A notable example would be the comments he made about Holly Willoughby during his performance at the 2022 Latitude festival. At best, it could be described as indicative of sexual assault, at worst, necrophilia. He was slammed by several right-leaning newspapers like the Daily Mail, Metro and even GB News, and the public backlash has stuck, to an extent. I say this because, five minutes into his set, Boyle set the scene and expanded on his perspective of the controversy, 18 months on. Undoubtedly, his side of the story paints it as a well-intended joke gone wrong and he spoke about the dangers of trying completely unplanned humour. I barely knew who Frankie Boyle was, let alone heard of this controversy, so thought it was largely unnecessary to bring it up. To me, it just seemed like he hadn’t moved on. For the audience, however, it seemed to work. Diving into such a risky topic broke the ice and many laughs followed. Most of them didn’t hold it against Boyle. But that’s to be expected: they bought tickets (roughly £30 each) and I didn’t.
Before Frankie Boyle came on, rising comedic star Christopher Macarthur-Boyd warmed up the crowd (pictured left of Boyle in the image above). Also living in Glasgow, he’s been touring for ‘Lap of Shame’ and has worked with Boyle previously on multiple occasions. Frankie Boyle’s New World Order, for one, and very recently the two have released the podcast Here Comes the Guillotine with co-presenter Susie McCabe. They get on, to say the least. I can’t remember many specifics from his jokes- aside from him poking fun at himself for being the typical Scotsman in blue jeans, a red checkered shirt and a half-indistinguishable accent- but would describe them as funny stories, quicker puns and elaborations on why his day is going badly. Maybe it was more my style because he joked more about himself, or the world more generally, rather than targetting specific individuals like Boyle did. Maybe I also liked him more because he made fewer jokes about politics.
Macarthur-Boyd’s act lasted just over 20 minutes, with a 20-minute break between him and the main show. From my experience of comedies, this is standard timing. It means the headliner will typically have about 1 hour, or 1 hour 20, for their show, and Frankie Boyle was no different. As a volunteer steward, this is great for me because it means I’m usually on my way home by 9.45 pm after a 6.30 pm start. There’s a lot of setup to do so we don’t open doors until around 7 pm, with the show beginning 30 minutes later. I spend a lot of time pacing, smiling and repeating some variation of ‘up the stairs then on your right’. And, of course, talking to the other steward(s) on my door between checking tickets. For Boyle’s show, I was on one of the main doors downstairs, so there were 3 of us. This was useful when there was a steady amount of people coming in (2 checking tickets and directing to the general direction whilst the 3rd person guided people to their seats) but felt like overkill for the first 10 or so minutes that the doors were open. Still, this is typical for any live show, whether you’re stationed. At the end, we go around with bin bags to dispose of all the plastic cups, gum wrappers and chocolatey snacks, which I promptly hand to the paid stewards before heading out (I’m not entirely avoiding doing the dirty work- this is what the head steward always instructs the volunteers to do). I’ve tried to get into the habit of logging my hours onto the Warwick Volunteers website the next day (this academic year the university has made it so stewarding counts towards The Warwick Award), or else I forget and end up scrolling through old emails for my registration.
Maybe I’d have enjoyed the show more if I wasn’t preoccupied with stewarding. Butterworth Hall has a capacity of 1300 people and we practically sold out of tickets. Also, it isn’t unusual for live performances to have a ‘no filming or photography’ policy but the Head Steward told us to be firm with enforcing it. Luckily for me, not too many people tried to sneak in pictures. I was at one of the front doors so had a more limited view of the audience and realistically wouldn’t have been able to get across to as many of them as I would have if I was on a raised floor near the back or sides. Either way, the disruptions for this part were far fewer than at other performances I’ve stewarded, like poet Sir John Cooper Clarke or comedian Romesh Ranganathan. This was probably helped by the notice made by Christopher Macarthur-Boyd, where he told the public that there was no re-admittance in the main performance, especially if you returned with beer in hand. As a steward, I was immensely grateful for this. Most people are generally respectful but there are always the few that don’t listen or would rather risk it and feign ignorance. So, by having a performer say that filming, photography or readmittance was prohibited, the audience was a lot more respectful. There were of course a few who dipped out mid-show for restroom breaks but Frankie Boyle’s set was over an hour long and I wasn’t going to deny anyone their basic rights. Besides, the qualm was more with people leaving to get alcohol.
I’d heard that Frankie Boyle liked doing crowd work, and got to see it a few times in his performance. I was slightly alarmed because he made specific audience members the butt of the joke at times (like one gentleman sat at the back who booed when someone at the front said they worked as an NHS carer). Mostly I was concerned from a steward’s perspective, considering what I’d do if any heated arguments or fights broke out. Luckily this was unnecessary as Frankie Boyle shut the gentleman down quickly and went back to talking to the member at the front. At one point during crowd work, a woman said that she had travelled from Nuneaton to see the show. A ripple of booing and gasps across the audience sparked a series of jokes from Frankie Boyle about the rivalry between towns under 10 miles apart. I enjoyed that section a lot, even if it was unplanned. Or, perhaps because it was unplanned and felt very different to To his credit, he knew what audience members wanted to interact with and whether their responses were appropriate to expand on. Like the gentleman who booed, for example, he was quickly shut down and the show carried on seamlessly.
All in all, I can easily admit that I preferred Christopher Macarthur-Boyd’s performance. He had good stage energy, consistently made me laugh and very helpfully reminded the audience about the no readmittance with drinks policy. Also, there was something about his accent and mannerisms that lifted me in a way Frankie Boyle didn’t. Boyle’s jokes weren’t all offensive or awful but, as I’ve said, they weren’t to my personal taste. I could see why people of a certain generation might like him, but I’m glad I didn’t pay to see him. From a stewarding perspective, ‘Lap of Shame’ could have been far worse. Perhaps the presence of security- provided by Boyle, not us- kept the audience calmer. There were one or two individuals who’d had too much to drink or were a little too enthusiastic about Boyle’s jokes, but that wasn’t out of the blue compared to other comedies I’ve stewarded at. Overall then, I enjoyed the stewarding experience as it was relatively straight-forward and stress-free (especially for a sold-out show) and am thankful to the performers for their part in making the night as smooth as possible. Frankie Boyle’s humour may not be to my taste but I didn’t have an awful night. I can’t say that I’ll see him again live but I will check out Christopher Macarthur Boyd’s social media out of curiosity.