Amos brought his current tour, Welcome to My World, to Leeds on Wednesday evening. Void of a warm-up act, Amos took the role of both support and main act as he performed a seamless stand-up integrated with light hearted audience interaction and cultural references to Leeds and its surrounding areas.

Amos declared ‘I’m in a cheeky mood tonight, Leeds’ as he began his act with a few experimental jokes. Drawing from his recent ideas in a workshop environment, Amos used the opportunity of warming up his audience by trying some new material out. Whilst this wasn’t performed to the highest levels of professionalism, the jokes performed were entertaining and fulfilled the role of warming up his audience.

The evening was filled with uncontrollable laughter as Amos masterfully wove audience interaction into his set. The audience responses complimented Amos’ feel-good atmosphere as many responded with humorous comments such as ‘we went to the grand theatre instead’ and ‘dessert was late’. The audience welcomed Amos’ heartfelt humour and the interaction merely enhanced the feel-good vibe which soaked through each audience member.

The evening was mostly uplifting and enjoyable throughout. A few heartfelt stories were told in-between rounds of comic gold to the audience which resulted in unanimous support towards the comedian. This didn’t affect the mood however and the audience continued their support until the very end. It would seem that the integration of audience interaction held the show together, particularly during the section where Amos unearthed the cultural object that is the meat raffle. First row audience members enlightened him with the northern tradition to the point where Amos played spectator, laughing at the spectator’s experience with the northern tradition of a meat raffle. The exclamatory phrase ‘Wang it!’ will forever represent the night’s performance.

Stephen K. Amos provided Leeds with a thoroughly enjoyable evening. A palate of audience interaction, one liners and self-deprecating jokes, wrapped up with intelligent humour, the comedian provided his audience with a balance of light hearted comedy to borderline offensive jokes. A variety of minorities, social groups and sub cultures felt the wrath of Amos at some point in the evening which made the set enjoyable for all who attended.

Mark McDougall