Comedy Review: Mike Rice's Cruel Little Man at the Nottingham Arts Theatre

Kilkenny’s finest comedian, finalist of RTE and BBC Best Young Comedians, comes to town with his sell out Fringe show with an ever-growing internet-grown fan base. Known for his dark, twisted characters, he is initially convivial and candid, milking the front few rows for the gags they always provide. But he lucks out, finding Nottingham’s position as top of the league for teenage mothers is indeed very real. A thirty-nine-year-old grandmother and a twenty something out with his young Milf of a mother gives Rice plenty of scope to have the Nottingham Arts Centre in howls of laughter. This is why this audience came here tonight.

Having set the tone and the bar for the night, worthy support act and fellow Irishman Sam Morrison, keeps it up, advising us how applying piles cream to his anus as a gay man, ended up with him having a wank. He explains how the newly moderate Taliban had hosted a Pride Rainbow flag on their website. Then discloses that it was on fire. He talks us through the perils of paint balling, resulting in him not wanting to be taken alive turned the gun on himself.

Rice returns after the customary vanilla ice cream, explaining how his recent colonoscopy was done without sedation, but he was given gas and air. By a German nurse. He regales us with tales of Diddy, and his own issues smuggling drugs through customs and how he discovered his Air B&B host was into bestiality when his sausage dog licked Rice's nipples and performed fallatio after climbing into bed with him. Concluding with the joy of having a massage from a muscular man. Then he recites his self-aware experiences of sober dating, and the sense of inadequacy when his host asked him to relax during sex, resulting in a destruction of confidence that would have destroyed James Bond. His absurd anecdotes reveal Rice is a comic built on chaos, with sharply layered gags and frantic energy. He recounts acid trips with the hilarious manic charm of a man still on one.

His impressions stand out. Simple but funny. Of macho Italian men hassling women, customs officials and the Big Orange Baby masquerading as the President of the United States of America. He gives us the delight and the joy of imagining what if Donald J Trump was sent to penitentiary. Rice states it wouldn’t change Trump, that he’d still be the same. Even when getting it in the ass in the showers, he be saying. “They tell me that I have the tightest rectum in the world. The tightest rectum in the entire history of the world. It’s the greatest ever rectum that ever taken.” He concludes this section, asking us why the Irish enjoyed seeing him get shot, because they love to see an Orangeman take a bullet. The resultant cheer revealed the amount of Irish DNA in the audience.

Rice then takes the audience on a whistle stop tour of his dark character impressions. He both energetic and funny, keeping the audience laughing throughout which is what they came for. Rice’s craft is to mix it all about. Jokes from his life, gags, one-liners, impressions and a solid stage persona, revealing a man who knows what he’s doing, garnering new fans along the way. All he has is his wit, a tremendous stage presence, and an ability to find the comedy in the absurd in absurd times, which is both welcome and refreshing. This man has a solid future in the game.

Nottingham Arts Theatre has revealed itself as the once missing link, for comedians too big for a shared stage at Just the Tonic and not quite yet big enough for Nottingham Playhouse. Many a comedian will perform here, make sure you catch them on their way up, like we did with these two tonight.

Mike Rice's Cruel Little Man played at Nottingham Arts Theatre on 29th January 2026.