Aaron Simmonds is an extraordinary man.
Born with cerebral palsy, he went on to play wheelchair basketball for the Great Britain Under-23 squad before getting into powerlifting and going all the way to the world championships.
A few years ago he took up comedy and has gone on to carve out a successful career making audiences laugh.
He was a BBC New Comedy Award finalist in 2017 and won Jewish Comedian of the Year in the same year. He’s featured on The Russell Howard Hour on Sky Max, Rob Beckett’s Undeniable on Comedy Central and BackChat on Dave.
Standing up
Until now he has done his gigs from the security of a wheelchair. This year, he explains to the audience, he wanted to do stand-up, well, standing up.
When he made this decision, he says, he was only capable of staying on his feet for 15 minutes at a time.
Not only does Simmonds stand up for the entire hour of his show, titled Baby Steps, he keeps his audience glued to their seats.
A born storyteller, Simmonds takes us through various episodes of his life with honesty, humility and wit. From the time his two grannies accidentally touched him up at a family wedding to a tale of love rivalry over a female powerlifter, he’s capable of spinning a hilarious yarn..
He talks about his disability and about people’s reaction to it, positive and negative. And, despite the obvious discomfort he’s in, he remains on his feet – and smiling – for the full hour of the show.
He leaves the venue on a warm wave of applause accompanied, of course, by Elton John’s I’m Still Standing.
4/5
Aaron Simmonds: Baby Steps is on at the Pleasance Bunker 2 at 4.25pm until August 28.
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