one4review | On 21, Aug 2026

It can’t be easy doing stand-up comedy at any time. It must be doubly difficult if you are performing in a second language, in a cave, and working without a mic.
But all of the above happened. Koomen is Dutch, his venue The Hive is a cave, and he elected to work with out the mic. Okay it’s not the biggest room so maybe that was okay, and the audience obediently sat close.
Koomen is a guy with ideas, a lot of them strange to most of us, however he obviously believes in himself, and his material, and maybe with a different audience it may have worked better, but tonight’s crowd was willing to laugh when the gags and stories landed, just there where not enough to sustain his hour. Whether intentional or not, he is quite surreal, the transitions didn’t flow freely, his crowd work seemed laboured at times, but occasionally there seemed to be the real deal there.
Bob is an nice guy, he was constantly moving around with no real reason, and has some interesting ideas in the way of delivering them. I feel some direction would assist in making this more assessable, but maybe what we got is what he wanted, and I wouldn’t want to temper his individualism.
***
Reviewed by Geoff
20.30 to 21.30
Just The Tonic at The Hive
Until 30th August