This piece originally appeared in The Demon newspaper issue 118.

A lot of observational comedians talk about their marriages, or their children, or their spice racks. This can be difficult to identify with, dull, or both. Jon Richardson isn’t the ‘voice of the people’. He’s a misanthropic vegetarian, which I find very easy to identify with.

He's surprisingly energetic for a performer whose humour draws on his own obsessive behaviour and, as he explained, an overwhelming hatred for the whole of society. Don't get me wrong, he's no Lee Evans (thankfully) but he illustrates his stories with skittish enactments and amusing voices which he relishes putting on. He particularly enjoys becoming a Spanish husband and his family at one point and, despite the aforementioned misanthropy, his giddy thrill at being so silly is infectious.

One voice he doesn't like doing, is his own. He seems to have a hang-up about this. It gets mentioned once too often to be merely self deprecating humour and it becomes clear that he's paranoid about how he sounds both to the audience and to the characters who populate his set. He regularly interrupts himself to do a screechy northern burst of sound which is his Jon Richardson impression. It might not be quite as listenable as the Spanish husband, but Richardson's voice is one that I was perfectly happy to listen to for an hour and a half.

Another thing Richardson seems to worry about, is happiness. It is a widely acknowledged idea that happiness is the death of unhappy comedians' careers. I was worried too, I went in knowing that since I'd last saw him live, he had entered a relationship with fellow comedian Lucy Beaumont. Was this going to dilute Richardson's disdain for the world? Has he recently acquired some rose-tinted specs which would cloud his comedic vision? No. The story of their romance provides a central narrative thread to the show, culminating in a hilarious denouement. But it’s far from sentimental. Vomit features too often for it to be sentimental.

One particular story about a hat sums up the entire show. Jon moans, worries and then cannot stop laughing because of someone else’s misfortune. Not in a cruel way. Despite his grouchiness, he cannot control the child-like joy of something so simple yet so funny. Like when your parents laugh at a fart.