The Comedy Cow trotted into The Saracens Head, Towcester last night (14/09) for its very first show and it was a real treat.

MC Stevie Grey set the pace with high-energy banter and surprise musical flourishes, Don Biswas kept it wonderfully offbeat, Ben Briggs went outrageously unfiltered and Nick Page delivered dry, chaotic gold like only he can.

Stevie was our MC for the night and wow he doesn’t just host a show, he detonates it. With cheeky wit, quick-fire jokes and playful audience interrogation (sorry, interaction), he pulled everyone into his high-energy, gloriously unpredictable style.

A seasoned performer, Stevie has headlined festivals, compered the Comedy Tent at Blissfields, opened at Guilfest, and supported Terry Alderton on tour. Described by Notts Comedy Review as “like watching sunshine,” he didn’t just warm up the room, he cranked it up to full beam and left it glowing.

Gifted with some truly unique audience participants 

(the Penetration Tester -yes, really – a musical pirate skit and what may or may not have been an impending wedding), Stevie proved he doesn’t just deal with heckles, he actively invites them. Then, with the glee of a comedy alchemist, he spins them into gold. He’s lively, likeable, fizzing with funny both on and off stage and his mix of anecdotal comedy and storytelling had the audience happily engaged.

For me the The Middle-Aged Arctic Monkeys moment was brilliant. 

Stevie is a joy and a pleasure to see so follow his socials, or, as one particularly bold heckler suggested, follow him home.

Don is proof that comedy doesn’t need bells and whistles when the brain itself is a fireworks display. A politically charged gag machine, he rips through everything from his Asian upbringing to the rollercoaster of neurodiversity to the turmoil of modern life.

Crowned with the Edinburgh Fringe Award for Autistic Excellence 2023, Don’s style is gloriously unique. No gimmicks, no pretence, just him being unapologetically himself, turning honesty into the best setup in the business.

We enjoyed a brilliantly awkward high-five with an unsuspecting audience member, tales of his Indian mother that totally reasonate and the bittersweet hilarity of parental disappointment (trolley pushing, anyone?). 

Don’s comedy has that rare knack of tackling uncomfortable topics while keeping you laughing, then sneaking in a moment of reflection after the punchline lands.

Brave, relatable and instantly genial, Don says “eff it” to the system but still lives at home with his parents, meaning rebellion comes with a bedtime. Sharp, clever and sneakily profound, he delivers gaglines that linger long after the show ends.

Ben has been making audiences roar at some of the UK’s biggest clubs long enough to make his sarcasm a national treasure. Electric from the start, you knew he’d be delicious trouble the second he stepped up to the mic. Brash, brutally honest and trenchant, he flirts with pandemonium and constantly turns it into pure cackles of laughter. 

His no nonsense approach to COVID survivors had some excellent ‘eek’ moments – the panic buying toilet paper was simply saving your own @rse – and much more which was merciless but beyond hilarious, just remember, as he sardonically reminds you, It’s Comedy. 

He’s rocked Leicester, Nottingham, Birmingham, and Edinburgh festivals and was a 2015 English Comedian of the Year finalist. With over 15 years in the game, he provokes groans, chuckles, and full-on laughing-out-loud mayhem, cringey yet formidable, pushing every boundary and limit and we love him for it. Unexpected gloriousness abounds with tales of travel and tummy upsets – think of looking under the wheel arch of a rally car, his words not mine! Then we get a deeper delve into his love life than we’re comfortable with, but oh, you want more. He’s so wrong he’s perfectly right.

If comedy were a cocktail, Ben would be equal parts bitter, smooth, and dangerously funny.

Some comedians search for material. Nick Page just opens the door and let life’s chaos walk straight on in. 

His show was an avalanche of self-inflicted disasters retold with the kind of charm that makes calamity feel like a lifestyle choice.

No props, no padding, just Nick, a mic and a barrage of stories so sharp The Guardian once called him “a bear-like man with a host of barely believable stories about life, love, and brushes with the law.”

The man is a maestro of mirthful bedlam, every tale is a careful balance of derisive observation, scornful wit and sharp self-assessment, delivered with such self-aware precision that you can’t help but admire the craftsmanship. From the ‘flappy bags of dust and wishes’ to the tiredness and weariness of actually having to do something every day after avoiding everything during the COVID times, Nick turns life’s exhaustion into entertainment gold. He masterfully carries on themes Ben Briggs has toyed with, adding his own wobbly troubles and woes, turning the mundane into a spectacle of mirth

He’s been crowned English Comedian of the Year, played festivals across three continents, and even picked up a medal from the British Army for making troops laugh in warzones. Yet, somehow, the real highlight is his comical self-deprecation and dry delivery taking us on a tour through his life’s brouhaha, from dolphin discussions that suddenly become climate-change manifestos (you’ll rethink every single drinking straw from here on in) to the existential absurdity of having a baby at 50. Think back to those flappy bags…

On that note, Nick cleverly compares goats to kids to children making puns and insights that land like a perfectly timed slapstick punch: they are simultaneously clever, ridiculous and oddly profound.

By the end, you’re raising a toast to this powerhouse of comedy, exhausted from laughing yet curiously enlightened about life, love, and calamity. Nick Page doesn’t just tell stories, he survives them, weaponizes them and leaves you gasping with laughter, shaking your head in incredulity, and secretly hoping he never, ever stops.

Check out all the upcoming shows from The Comedy Cow at www.thecomedycow.co.uk and on all their social pages. There’s something for everyone in the dairy diary.

Reviewed by:

Karen Phillips

I’m a proud MK resident of over 46 years watching it grow from a new town to a bustling business, social and cultural city.

I work in the NHS and enjoy an eclectic social life exploring everything Milton Keynes has in the diary.