GEORDIE comic Carl Hutchinson has a regular following on the south coast, judging by the ‘seen me before?’ show of hands poll at this intimate Sherling Studio gig. In a sense then, he just picked up where he left off on his previous appearance here.

Now 37, stalwart comedy circuit regular Hutchinson began his stand-up career while still at university and hasn’t really looked back, gathering plaudits and awards while slogging back and forth across the country.

Of course, being associated with the likes of fellow north east comedian Chris Ramsey is a big help and he has opened for the fellow podcast king on many an occasion. Hutchinson has also presented BBC’s The One Show and appeared on a variety of TV comedy shows.

But here he was on his own, on his nominally titled Today Years Old tour and striding out on to the ‘stage’ (floor) of the almost in-the-round (maybe ‘in-the-triangle’?) venue after an awful, looped playlist including the likes of latter-day Genesis and James Blunt (kudos though for including the under-appreciated John Hiatt).

But I digress, Hutchinson was in his element, covering a vast range of subjects in his observational style, interacting with the audience (particularly with a family whose name seemed to fascinate him) and drawing great guffaws.

In what was really a one-sided conversation he opined to great effect on the likes of washing up, risotto, remote controls, bus journeys, Pom Bears, tourism tax, Rice Crispies, the worth of pizza ovens and curry for breakfast, which he prefers cold.

His best routine, and a situation with which many could sympathise, was how he tried to sell two relatively new wardrobes for a reasonable price on a popular social media marketplace site. His descriptions of some of the would-be buyers as village idiots probably overplayed their abilities.

Needless to say, they didn’t sell so his next attempt to get rid of them involved trying to donate them to charity. No go, I’m afraid; the wardrobes were dubbed ‘too white’ by the dismissive collection drivers who he thought were actually striving to get through the day without actually picking anything up. And that’s why he no longer supports a particular and prominent national charity.

Support came from stout Geordie (they stick together it seems) Anth Young whose short set started slowly but soon warmed the audience up.