Arguably the most famous person to perform at Swanage’s theatre in Dorset, Jack Dee went down a storm with the audience who braved the puddles on a Tuesday night to see the famously grumpy comedian’s latest show.
The performance, Work in Progress on Tuesday 9th October 2024 at The Mowlem, sold out in a record eight minutes when the tickets went on sale earlier in July.
The Showbar was packed ahead of the comedy evening
Some had queued outside the box office to get tickets while others were quick off the mark online
Theatre filled with the lucky few
The lucky ones to grab a ticket, packed the auditorium for a preview of the comedian’s new Small World tour which begins in November 2024 and travels throughout the UK in 2025.
Jack Dee joins a list of recent famous visitors to Swanage, including Princess Anne, Aled Jones, Michael Portillo and Fiona Bruce, and his appearance did not disappoint.
In his opening remarks he quipped that he comes on holiday to Swanage every summer – so once every three years!
He went on to tell the audience that he’d had an awful journey down to Swanage due to the bad weather – he’d taken the chain link ferry and it had gone sideways – adding, there’s not many places where you can make that joke!
Jack Dee, more happy with the soundcheck on stage at The Mowlem, than he looked!
Leaflets and pamphlets…
In this warm up to his tour, he kicked about his new material as if he was playing five a side football, nudging his punchlines towards the goal and then taking another shot if the joke didn’t quite hit the back of the net.
Jack chewed through lots of subjects – the small things of life – including cleaners, mountain rescuers, leaflets, the BBC TV programme Saving Lives at Sea, beach sellers, and call centre staff working from home from the smallest and most echoey of rooms!
He mentioned Uber drivers, before quickly realising that you can’t get an Uber south of Sandford down here and apologised for flaunting his glamorous, showbusiness lifestyle to those of us who still have to ring for a taxi.
Oh and more leaflets and pamphlets – he went on quite a bit about them…
There were a few ad libs, particularly when Jack started to cough, turned to get a glass of water from the small table next to him and noticed the rather dishevelled tablecloth, remarking, “Don’t you have irons in Swanage?” much to the audience’s amusement.
His downbeat style suited The Mowlem audience and while he quipped that when he Googled, ‘People who were famous in the 90s’, his website came up top of the search results, it was clear that he is still ‘top of the pops’ today!
Warm up act, young comedian Alex Kealey
Up and coming Alex Kealey
Before Jack Dee took to the stage, a young comedian Alex Kealey came on as a warm up act. Probably more used to a younger audience he didn’t always get the sort of reaction he was expecting.
Speaking about his recent engagement, he asked how many other people in the audience were engaged. It turned out there was only one, which caused more bemusement as everyone (mainly long married or divorced) wondered where the other half of the couple had got to on the date night.
Alex joked that his best performance was his drama GCSE as he’d been asked to do an encore, or a retake as they liked to call it…
The comedian, described as up and coming, then went on to introduce the people of Swanage to the expression of ‘raw dog’.
Spotting some puzzled looks he suggested that people may wish to ask a young person if they don’t know what it meant. However some may have to Google it (but that’s not recommended!)
Sold out in eight minutes!
A happy Thomas Curtis after a successful evening
“Great Tuesday night out in Swanage!”
Operations manager of The Mowlem, Thomas Curtis, speaking after the show said:
“It’s incredible to bring such an A-list celebrity to The Mowlem, with the tickets being the fastest selling in our history. What a great Tuesday night out in Swanage!
“We’re increasingly attracting a high calibre of acts, off the back of those who’ve already performed and we’ve got more comedy to come.
“There’s only a few tickets left to see Maisie Adam on Wednesday 6th November 2024 and we’ve just released tickets for comedian Angela Barnes’ stage show on Friday 2nd May 2025.
“The more people who support the shows, the more we can attract to perform for the Swanage community.
“Jack Dee’s show was a warm up for his new tour and although we had to juggle the dates we made it work for everyone. More big names are welcome to try out new material here at The Mowlem!”
He then jokingly added:
“We do have an iron…we’ll remember that for next time!”
Turning The Mowlem blue – just the lights, not Jack Dee!
Further information
- More about Jack Dee
- As Swanage is dog mad, Jack Dee’s podcast Oh My Dog!, with Seann Walsh, is one not to miss!
- What’s on, including more comedy acts, at The Mowlem
