John Kearns – Tilting at Windmills

Venue:

The Apex, Bury St. Edmunds

Date: 20/03/2026

Kearns opens the performance – not necessarily ‘the show’ – with a bit of light riffing. “I heard about Last One Laughing the same time that you did. Which was a little disappointing…” There are also reflections on his former flatmate Greg James, who “…had the future King on the back of his bike this week, and here I am in Bury St. Edmunds…come on, it’s my Friday night too…”
There is an almost imperceptible slide into the main course of the show, wherein a thirty eight year-old man finds himself house-hunting while living with his parents, engaging in disappointing literary tours of South London, riding the bus and, in one almost unbearable moment of pathos, walking past the house he used to live in, where the lights in the windows betray the new residents’ occupation of his old spaces.
He’s no gag-a-minute laugh machine, but a reflective conteur, although a couple of set pieces – one featuring a sauna and one involving his appearance on Live at the Apollo are beer-spittingly arranged. There’s a little bit of audience work – nothing to frighten the horses, although he does find himself painted into a self-confessed comedy cul-de-sac at one point (“Two days ago a bloke said ‘steak’ – now that I can work with…”) and the climax of the show, featuring some pre-records, is a genuinely moving moment, given what has been shared during the course of the show.
He’s touring until November, and so there are plenty of opportunities to dig in, not least for the song-based antics of tour support Pat Cahill, who veers from Rambling Syd Rumpo-esque ruminations to the electronica-based Mr Honk, who may indeed to be a cipher for Kearns himself.

The audience:

Mainly middle-aged couples, some of whom declined to get involved; at least one graphic designer (“That’s just colouring in”) and a primary school teacher (“So’s that.)

It made me think..

As ever with Kearns, it’s a slow burn which stays with you, and one considers the piece more in depth the next day that you did at the time. One liners suddenly seem more relevant and much more quotable. We also bought an audiobook of TS Eliot’s The Wasteland (minor spoiler).

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