Paul Kerensa has the cheery, relaxed-but-assured air of a middle-class professional who has always expected to do reasonably well in life. Smug, you might almost say.
But the only way you can do consistently well on the comedy circuit is to have solid material, and this is where Kerensa proves his confidence is justified. He is, without doubt, a productive gagsmith, with a fast-moving, well-constructed set simply bursting with sharp punchlines.
Wordplay is his forte, with neatly-written puns liberally scattered throughout. But he doesn’t constrain himself to one sort of joke, or even one sort of topic. He’ll forage for gags everywhere, which gives his set a broad scope in style and content.
Some of his best stuff is personal anecdotes – especially of the medical variety – but then there is some silly pirate-based audience banter that proves just as effective. Really, anything goes.
Such a wide-ranging set does mean there are a few things he maybe shouldn’t do. Ginger jokes, tired ‘gimme six’ type jibes at the inbred folk of his native Cornwall and a ‘by-and-large’ gag that Emo Phillips first did 20 years ago are all beneath him, and sully an otherwise impressive set.
His ease with an audience, and with his own smart material, make him a joy to watch, while the gag-heavy script always offers plenty to laugh at. Kerensa is an effective, reliable and likeable stand-up, with an impressive battery of (mostly) smart material.
