
Stand-up show 'Tilting At Windmills' by Taskmaster alumnus John Kearns at Reading Concert Hall.
John Kearns brings his new stand-up show, Tilting At Windmills, to Reading Concert Hall on Tuesday 8 June 2027. It's a brand-new hour from the London-based comic, and if you've caught him on TV, you'll recognise him as a Taskmaster alumnus. He's a double Edinburgh Comedy Award winner, having taken home the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer back in 2013.
Since then, the reviews have painted a pretty specific picture of his style. Critics have called him 'the most original, odd, off-beat and hilarious alternative comic to arise this decade', a 'jumpy and unpredictable raconteur' and 'brilliantly bonkers'. If those sound like your kind of night, you're in the right place. He's a comic who doesn't really fit into a neat box, and that's usually where the best stuff comes from.
Tilting At Windmills is billed as a fragmented, digressing portrayal of a 38-year-old man's life, alluding to books he hasn't read and touching on the modern condition. It's less of a tight sequence of punchlines and more of a wandering tour through a particular way of looking at things, so it's the sort of show that works best if you're happy to follow him down a few rabbit holes rather than expecting a traditional stand-up set.
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Beyond the stage, you might know him from Taskmaster on Channel 4, looking terrified on Live at the Apollo on the BBC, and from Never Mind the Buzzcocks on Sky, as well as his Sky stand-up special The Varnishing Days. The show starts at 19:30 at Reading Concert Hall on Blagrave Street, RG1 1QH.