Alfie Moore gives an arresting performance

Posted on 9th September 2023

Regular Radio 4 listeners, the great majority of which appeared to have turned up to a full-to-bursting Corn Hall, will be familiar with Alfie Moore, a former police officer and stand-up comic who presents a show in which he asks his audience what decisions they would make in a real life case that he has dealt with. Many attending might have been expecting a live incarnation of that programme – I know I did. What we got instead was something altogether more personal as Moore took the audience through a life spent juggling two lives he has lived, as both a policeman, sneakily taking a break to look after his auntie, and what he really got up to – a jobbing stand-up comic.

Moore is an avuncular fellow, gently weaving his tales of misadventure and mishap. Evoking chuckles more than belly laughs, and nods of approval rather than shock and awe, his is the comedy of gentle mockery rather than coruscating commentary, content to reflect on his unsteady progress in his second career with circumspection and self-deprecation. While much of the evening focused on his failure to get a sitcom off the ground, he wasn’t afraid to stick his big toe into the troubled waters of Brexit and gender politics. He was at his best, however, when simply chatting, either to the audience  as a whole or individuals within in it. He may lack the acid tongued barbs of some of his contemporaries but he was warm and jolly, never taking himself too seriously.

Ironically, he saved his best material until last, perhaps having got the measure of the crowd. To say much more would be spoil the element of surprise, do let’s just say it was head and shoulders his best routine.