HOME | BIO | MEDIA | REVIEWS | CONTACT | LINKS

REVIEWS

 The Scotsman by Kate Copstick www.scotsman.com 

The Stand Comedy Club II (Venue 5)

NICK WILTY has lost his voice. However, that is all he has lost since the last time I saw him. He is still a warm, funny man who looks like Freddie Starr's nicer but naughtier twin. He is also a great raconteur. This "little show" as he calls it, is deeply personal, tangibly emotional at times and a very different style for him.

This is one of those "marker" shows that some performers need to do. And you should try to see it if you possibly can, because I suspect Wilty might never do anything quite like this again.

In 1982, Wilty was in the Army and, more precisely, in the Falklands. But for failing his driving test, he would have been on the Galahad when it went down. Wilty, racked with survivor's guilt, bought himself out of the Army after that war and, pausing only to amass £440, went off round the world for eight years.

His tips for sleeping rough, his encounters with giant spiders and crocodiles, his observations on Tokyo small-talk and his time playing sexual Russian roulette in Singapore are all delivered in a warm, funny, friendly croak.

He weaves some terrific little stand-up routines into the narrative, for those who don't think scary/hilarious tales of the time he was held up by bandits brandishing three guns and a machete in Belize is enough. By the time he gets on to sniffer dogs in New Zealand, fun in Amsterdam and making his comedy debut in Canada, he is on a comedy roll.

And then at the end, he takes you back with him to the Falklands as he went to entertain the troops on the 25th anniversary of the war.

This is funny, sad, open, honest stuff. And it is powerful. I apologise if I haven't made this sound very funny. It is. And more.

Sat 25 Aug 2007

Chortle - www.chortle.co.uk

Wilty has the sort of easy-going, blokey style that could convince a hundred bar-room loudmouths that they could oh - so easily become stand-ups.

 They'd be wrong.

 For while Wilty makes it all seem so effortless, just like that witty mate shooting the breeze in the pub, he's a remarkably skilful comic, pinpointing the humour in any anecdote and delivering it with brilliant accuracy.

 And he has plenty of tales to tell, too. As the most well - travelled act on the circuit, he has a lifetime of experiences from across the globe that he can relate to grateful audiences.

 On stage he might seem reassuringly old-school - cocky and self - deprecation in equal measures, while never missing the opportunity for a quick one - liner or sly insult but it proves devastatingly effective.

 And with a vast and ever - changing repertoire, this highly recommended act is guaranteed to please.                 

February 2004

The Comedy Club - www.thecomedyclub.co.uk

Nick Wilty "The snappiest dressed comic on the circuit" is a self deprecating cockney who never misses the opportunity for a quick one-liner or sly insult. Nick's vast repertoire is guaranteed to please any audience, effortlessly winning over the crowd with a wealth of classy gags. A likeable act with true comic value. 

 The Herald

What no gimmick? Nick Wilty requires no props, has no physical deformity and does not have a day job in a morgue. In that, you might say he is rather old school. He's a bloke who gets up and tells jokes. But when you see such an old-fashioned thing done as well as he does it, you'll remember why this stand-up lark can be so much fun.
A well-travelled man who has performed on every continent except Antarctica, building up a vast amount of material on his way, he has a website showing pictures of him with stars such as Kylie, Sandy Shaw, Ray Davies, Ivana Trump and Lennox Lewis, though exactly how pally he is with them is uncertain. Perhaps he did to them what he does to an audience: gently lures them in with his friendly banter only to take them to places they'd rather not go.
Wilty will be topping a bill starring Raymond Mearns, Greg McHugh and Dan Willis. Actually, there is one gimmick. His stage surname is an acronym for Would I Lie To You?