Credit; ITV

In a small preview in Whitely Bay, The Lost Voice Guy did his trial run of his tour in front of a local audience.

I was delighted to get the opportunity to obtain a ticket to a warm up gig for Cerebral LOL-sy, the new tour by The Lost Voice Guy. The gig was held in Laurels, a new theatre and comedy venue in Whitley Bay. As a venue it was small and intimate and the gig felt very up close and personal, making for a slightly different viewing than one at an arena.

Lee Ridley aka The Lost Voice Guy covered some of the topics we've grown to know and love him for being self-deprecating, dispelling myths about disabilities and raising awareness for challenges the disabled community faces all through comedy. The night was important for Lee to judge how the audience responded to his material so he can make any final tweaks to the show before it goes nationwide in March. Despite being a hilarious show, there were a few things that will be changed before the live show. Running from an iPad, it's hard to judge timings for punchlines or continuations of jokes. There were a few times I was left trying to work out what was being said through all the laughter. But this is exactly what this gig was for.

His humour was grounded in reality, for instance he poked fun at the venue with it's two flights of stairs to the theatre and how disabled friendly they are.  Without wanting to give away spoilers he entertained us with topics such as DWP claims, his sex life and his fitness levels and not to mention many references to the 80s. The show includes one very famous game show, which I found to be the highlight of the show but for the sake of surprises I will not reveal what it is.

The show itself was a full 90 minutes, so how was it not boring? Even though you were just looking at Lee and his iPads, he used one for the jokes and the other to display picture and play music. These all added to the charm of the show as you sat wondering what he was going to display next. Whilst the iPad was playing the jokes, Lee's face clearly expressed what was happening, making it an enjoyable performance.

The Lost Voice Guy is touring nationally with Cerebral LOL-sy from March 2022 and is appearing at Newcastle Tyne Theatre on 28th May.