Dave Gorman
Date Of Birth: 02/03/1971
Dave Gorman started stand-up in 1990, when still a teenager, after dropping out of his mathematics course at Manchester University. But it took five years for him to start gaining recognition, hosting both the Comedy Zone showcase at the Edinburgh Fringe and appearing on Granada's Stand-up Show in 1995. Writing work began to come in, and he worked on Jenny Eclair Squats, The Fast Show and the Mrs Merton Show.
In 1998, he performed his first solo show, Reasons To Be Cheerful, deconstructing the lyrics of the Ian Dury song, which he followed the next year with Better World, in which he asked local newspaper readers how he could improve the world, then acted n their suggestions. This documentary-style show came into its own in 2000's Are You Dave Gorman? in which, egged on by flatmate Danny Wallace, he travelled the world to try to find 52 namesakes.
Are You Dave Gorman? was nominated for the Perrier award, and won the HBO Comedy Jury Award for Best One Person Show at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen Colorado. It was subsequently made into a BBC Two series, The Dave Gorman Collection, and a successful book.
His second TV series, also broadcast on BBC Two, was Dave Gorman's Important Astrology Experiment, a cod-scientific test to see if he could improve his love, health, and wealth over six episodes if he followed his horoscopes. His twin brother Nick, completely ignored the astrologers, so acted as a control.
In 2003, he embarked on another bizarre quest; this time tracking down people responsible for Googlewhacks - web pages that contain a unique pairing of words, so they are the only result returned when you type the phrase into the search engine. The show, which virtually drove him to a nervous breakdown, started at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, transferred to Edinburgh and a UK tour, and again spawned a bestselling book as well as a live DVD.
Since 2005, Gorman has also hosted the Radio 4 show Genius, in which members of the public submit their brilliant ideas to be put to the test, which transferred to BBC Two in 2009. He has also starred in Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, a show showing a behind-the-scenes view of a fictional comedy panel game, as himself.
In 2007, he released his documentary feature film, America Unchained, in which he tried to cross America without using chain restaurants, hotels or gas stations. Again, a book accompanied the film.
In 2009, he announced a return to more traditional stand-up - but cycling between the 32 venues in his UK tour.
Dave Gorman Videos
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Dave Gorman's Powerpoint Presentation
It would probably have happened anyway, but Dave Gorman has to take some of the credit/blame for popularising the use of PowerPoint in comedy.
The technology is both a boon and a curse – when used properly, the screen can an extra dimension or a visual punchline, underlining or undermining what’s being said on stage. Used badly, it’s a annoying prop for the unconfident, turning stand-up into a tedious business presentation.
As a pioneer, Gorman goes down the righteous path in his first Fringe performances in eight years – and even opens with a sly gag at the expense of the ‘death by PowerPoint’ option. But a few nifty, early sight gags on the massive screen aside, this is not about the medium, but the material. And what an impressive hour of intelligent, playful, quirky, obsessive and original fun it turns out to be.
read more of this review …
In some ways it’s a celebration of this former maths student’s continued nerdiness. He’s ruthlessly pedantic (and yes, can use the PowerPoint to stress a point), and sometimes brilliantly obsessed with the trivial. Some comics make you want to look at the whole world anew; after seeing Gorman you’ll look at adverts for watches in a different way.
At other times he starts from a typical observation – the marketing bullshit of 48hr deodorant, for example. But as anyone who’s seen any of his quest shows knows, Gorman is not one to leave an idea at first base, and takes things to extremes. Thankfully, for the sake of his sanity, here it’s just extremes of comic invention he goes to.
He whizzes through this material, with the laughs coming frequently – and sometimes without the punchline needing to be said. He is so defined as an benign mischief-maker that he can leave ideas hanging – and we work out what’s coming for ourselves from the clues he scattered along the way.
A couple of the early ideas don’t quite catch alight, such as his take on that old staple of celebrities he’s supposed to look like. And he showed us a picture of cage fighter Alex Reid, who he once met, but the rest of that anecdote is very forgettable.
But once he starts on the idea that he’s often mistaken for being Jewish, Gorman gets his teeth into a formidable bit of about stereotyping and projecting racial characteristics on to others in a superb display of exasperated confusion that kicks the show off into a high gear.
Gorman’s love of the internet is another key thread, he gets into an ultimately inconsequential online spat with Jim Davidson – though he regales the story expertly – and embarks on a modest, inconclusive experiment after crowd-sourcing information on what makes your wee smell funny. And while mocking idiotic comments posted on the web provides easy comic grist, Gorman makes it into poetry, literally as well as figuratively. You can see why he’s one of Britain’s finest Jewish comedians.
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America Unchained: One Helluva Coast-to-coast Anti-corporate Adventure
Dave Gorman: America Unchained Are You Dave Gorman?aka The Dave Gorman Collection
Dave Gorman's Googlewhack AdventurePaperback
Dave Gorman: GeniusRadio 4 series
Dave Gorman's Googlewhack AdventureDVD
Are You Dave Gorman?by Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace
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Older Comments
DOJ - 14/05/2020
This guy is the Coldplay of comedy. Pure and utter genius.
Sean Prower - 09/03/2010
What a five star performance Gorman delivers. previous shows, we have seen him talk about his childish antics, bets, games and pranks. That is the carefree, innocent child in him that we all secretly strive to embrace. Many of us do know Gorman is an intelligent man what with his theories, lexicon and ability to construct engrossing and captivating events. When he is kind-hearted and courteous he is one of the loveliest men you could ever wish to meet, but when he gets wound up by something, no matter how diminutivet, the rage excels to a state where the gauge snaps. Laughter courses hard through the audience like the blood pumps furiously through his veins. Sit Down, Pedal, Pedal, Stop and Stand Up is a flawless show which should not be ignored. If you love comedy and have not seen this, you’ve just lost your reputation as a connoisseur.
Norbert - 15/02/2010
The new (well, newest) tour is very much a show of two halves. The first is uncomfortable, predictable and slightly boring. The second comes alive as Dave moves on to more familiar territory – of which he requested we don’t discuss on mediums such as this (sorry). The best comedians seem to be people that you like and engage and although Dave does have real talent, he makes that very difficult by being quite arrogant. I came away wishing I had seen this show in a pub rather than a concert hall and that it had started at the interval.
Mandy Allan - 05/01/2010
The guy is the Coldplay of comedy. Derivative'Diceman' antics - although former pal Danny Wallace nicked that idea outright for 'Yes Man' - he is a polished speaker, but it is clear he is a born-too-late Tomorrow's World presenter, whose navel-gazing 'America Unchained' was unwatchable, middle class sanctimony. Much lke the unlistenable middle-class sanctimony of Coldplay.
Duncan - 20/09/2009
Watched Googlewhack - wish someone had whacked him in the face with a hammer. What a twat! Why speak when shouting will OBVIOUSLY get your point across and make you seem 100 per cent funnier.
Richie - 16/03/2009
LOL @ coldplay comment - the only similarity is that they are both inexplicably popular. I'm not really a fan of either. We saw him at the Frank Skinner credit crunch gig and wasn't much cop - I've never seen him do 'stand up' before and only seen him on screen. Whilst his command of the stage is in no doubt , the material was hovering towards mediocrity , and I couldn't get over his contrived , somewhat 'zany' act I'd seen previously on DVD, which the stand up does move away from, admittedly. I read he's not been doing stand-up as such for very long, so maybe it will get better but he was just average. Can't complain for a tenner though as the rest of the show was great.
Beth - 02/03/2009
Really quite average and beyond the ever present gimmicks, there's not a lot of substance there.
Alaric Dynevor, Comedy Cellar, Hudderrsfield - 25/02/2008
The Coldplay of Comedy. I bet Dave is delighted with that.
richie - 05/02/2008
Smug, bland, self-satisfied wanker.
Leo Edwards - 12/03/2007
Desperately unfunny with an element of OCD
Sophie - 06/03/2007
I saw his Googlewhack show on TV - it was a clever idea and funny in parts, but at times got boring and needed more variety. Overall I'd give him a 6/10 and wouldn't pay to see him.
Maggie - 12/09/2006
A monumental bore.
Darren E - 11/08/2006
This man has a wonderful brain. The comedy part of it is either not working or not there.
Jill Baike - 25/04/2005
Saw his Googlewhack show in Edinburgh -what an amazing show
Steph - 29/01/2005
I had not heard of Dave Gorman until I watched Googlewhack Adventure. I've not laughed so much in ages
Tricia Hollings - 28/01/2005
A clever, funny man.
Dan Poupier - 20/12/2004
Is there anything more anal than meticulously following some pointless hypothesis whilst sporting the most desperatley contrived facial hair in the world?
Alex - 08/06/2004
Dave is great, not what I was expecting but well observed material without having to resort to worn out comedic ideas. A good storyteller, who makes you laugh at real life.
Leo Edwards - 17/05/2004
Saw Reasons To Be Cheerful in Nov 2002 in Liverpool. Unfortunately, such a boring topic of analyising song lyrics proved to be equally boring as comedy. The audience laughed about twice throughout the whole performance.
Alex Daniels - 14/05/2004
You either you love him or you hate him. And every sane person loves him! He IS the funniest person ever. I saw Googlewack last night and have never laughed so hard in my life.
Pets - 11/04/2004
He reckons he's so wacky and these things just happen to him.. he is boring and arrogant
Dan - 28/02/2004
Saw his recent Are You Dave Gorman and Googlewhack Adventure, both of which were stunningly surreal and funny. He manages to transfer all the humor to both the books as well. Hes a great performer and not a bad writer either.
Tina - 26/02/2004
I think he's dull. I remebmer his show in which he traced his namesakes - innovative maybe tediius definately, I switched it off.
Beside The Seaside - 18/02/2004
This lad is just brilliant. You think he's funny on TV- wait til you see him live. An absolute joy. The show had me crying with laughter and biting my nails about the outcome. And a well deserved best seller- is there any end to his talents? Excellent.
Chantelle Barley - 08/02/2004
Absolutely ace.
Craig Woods - 03/02/2004
Saw Googlewhack in London, and enjoyed it so much that I went to see it again the month after. Not a stand-up, but a great storyteller.
Chris Grant - 12/01/2004
Saw Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure in the Guildhall in Southampton last year. Had a fantastic evening. He's not a stand-up comic as such, though a few asides that evening did hit the mark; but the scripting was tight, the story hilarious and the passion evident. Disappointed, though, when he swore us to secrecy over a tattoo and then announced it a few weeks later on the Frank Skinner show (where the interview was essentially a 15 minute version of the stage show).