Alun Cochrane: Introducing an Introduction to Alun Cochrane’s Imagination: The Stand Comedy Club, Edinburgh, 2006
Stand Up For Freedom (Amnesty International): Assembly Hall on the Mound, Edinburgh, 2008
Best of the Fest: Assembly @ George Street, Edinburgh, 2010
Best of the Fest: Assembly on the Mound, Edinburgh, 2011
The Best of the Comedy Store: The Comedy Store, London, 2014
Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe: Assembly George Square Studios, Edinburgh, 2014
Andy Zaltzman and Guests: Battersea Arts Centre, London, 2015
Best of the Fest: Assembly Hall, Edinburgh, 2015
The Best of the Comedy Store: Southbank Udderbelly, London, 2016
Always Be Comedy: The Tommyfield pub, Kennington, London, 2018
Originally from Yorkshire, Alun Cochrane is a great comic who I have encountered many times over the years. He is an expert at understated domestic reflection, extracting laughter from monotony with imaginative touches and the intruding annoyance of approaching middle-age. Even acknowledging the absurdity of his anger, subjects in his routines have included household recycling, spilling oil in the kitchen, his mother’s vegetarianism and his favourite gas-hob.
Cochrane has a submissive way about him and his moderated appeal did eventually win over the audience when I saw him deliver his full-hour show at The Stand in 2006, with a set that focussed on the most inconsequential minutiae of his daydreamer’s thrill-free life. The show made me want to see more of him and I became a fan of his quick succession of one-liners that are central to his routines together with the observations of everyday life and the way Cochrane talks about his family and experiences that gave me a lasting sense of genuine joy. Always with a cheeky half-smile on his face, when I have seen him he has always been entertaining.
In January 2018, I watched him deservedly headline at Always Be Comedy. Cochrane once again displayed an uncanny ability to create comedy from the simplest of subjects. Routines on very easy going topics such as sneezing were gently and relentlessly squeezed of jokes until everyone was laughing out loud in the audience. Cochrane is a master at finding a comic viewpoint on any topic that comes to mind. At the end of his set he got a standing ovation from me and as a result of cheers from the crowd, he came back on stage for an encore. Every time I have seen Cochrane, this likeable comedian is extremely reliable at finding a way of making an audience laugh.
Expert in storytelling and uniquely able to gather material from anywhere, Cochrane is a master comedian.