Loose potato

From his DVD The Man With The Flaming Battenberg Tattoo

More Rhod Gilbert videos

A former market researcher, Carmarthen-born Rhod Gilbert began his comedy career in 2002, after taking a stand-up course. That year he made the finals of the So You Think You're Funny? talent hunt at the Edinburgh Fringe, and in the next 12 months won the BBC New Comedy Award, the Paramount Gift Of The Gag competition and the Leicester Comedy Festival comedian of the year title. He was also a Chortle Award nominee for best new act, and runner-up n the Hackney Empire New Act Of The Year contest.

He made his solo Edinburgh debut in 2005 with a show called 1984, describing the misery of growing up in the fictional Welsh town of Llanbobl, whihc was nominated for the Perrier best newcomer award. That year, he also won the Chortle award for best breakthrough act.

His 2008 Edinburgh show again caught the attention of judges and was nominated for the main if.comedy award. It lead to appearances on BBC One's Live at the Apollo stand-up showcase and the 80th Royal Variety Performance.

Gilbert has also appeared on Mock The Week, and he hosts a Saturday-morning show on BBC Radio Wales. In late 2008, he fronted a series of adverts to promote Welsh tourism.

Rhod Gilbert: The Man With The Flaming Battenberg Tattooo
Live Review
Guildford G Live

Stop the presses: Rhod Gilbert’s taken anger management courses. For a man who’s made such a name for himself from releasing unrelenting torrents of frustrated rage, this could be career suicide.

‘I’ve changed,’ he says. ‘Calmed down. I always pretended what I do on stage was a character, petty and contrary. This is the first time I’ve admitted what I’m really like.’ And yep, turns out it was no ‘character’ – though of course it’s still the stage persona telling us this…

He’s learned to ‘let go of the balloon’ of wrath, he says, after being made to keep a diary of everything that wound him up, and in it write down what he could have done differently to defuse each situation. But – wouldn’t you know it – that just means he now has documentary evidence of all the petty annoyances that routinely reduced him to Victor Meldrew levels of agitation.

And, boy, are there are lot: electricians who repeatedly fail to show up, then botch the job; the marketing nonsense surrounding shower gel; over-packaged groceries in the supermarket; needlessly over-engineered toothbrushes; First Great Western and their ‘travelling chefs’; Ryanair and Red Hen (a fast-food joint described as ‘Wimpy with herpes’) to name but a few.

In all these outbursts, you can’t deny that he has a point, largely attacking the logic-defying jobsworths who put policy over common sense, or the marketing bullshit that makes everything more complicated and expensive than it needs to be. His stand against such nonsense is to be applauded – even though, as his girlfriend is all-too well aware, it makes him a nightmare to live with.

We get a sense of this early in the second half, when he argues that forwards is backwards just to pick an unconvincingly pedantic argument with the audience on the all-important subject of toilet doors. It’s quite a frustrating few minutes to watch, as he digs his heels in, but for some the outrage at his suggestion is so great, a vocal argument rings through the auditorium.

Of course, Gilbert isn’t one to just mumble under his breath how ridiculous things are, instead he engages in dogged debate with Tesco Metro managers, train guards and the like, his journal detailing every volley in the to-and-fro. He’s even taken to writing letters of complaint to some of the companies that sparked his misery, fighting the absurd with the absurd. And cleverly he chooses to read out only their reply, allowing the preposterous nature of his complaint to slowly reveal itself.

How genuine these set pieces are is immaterial; they are hilarious tour-de-force rants, fuelled by a righteous rage against a world gone mad. And they are set against the background of his relationship, volatile yet stuck in a rut, forever repeating a cycles of argument and adoration.

One row concerned the titular tattoo, which he got while recording his BBC Two series Rhod Gilbert’s Work Experience. With typical misguided pride, he chose a ridiculous image to ‘prove’ how stupid the idea of body art was. His partner, on the other hand, thought that if he was going to permanently mark his body, it should at least be we something that honoured their love.

Attempts to resolve that relationship, one way or another, provide the narrative drive, but Gilbert’s a bit too easily distracted. Away from the superlative routines he gets embroiled in some workaday crowd work and sometimes splutters over a link that should only need a sentence, but ends up taking a paragraph or two. There are some laughs in this but – in a increasingly common trait among all comedians – it makes for a needlessly long night. This 8pm show comes down around 11pm – when a 30 or even 45 minute cut (the forthcoming DVD version, maybe?) would sharpen things up no end.

Yet that doesn’t diminish the fact that when he’s in full flow, Gilbert is a mesmerising dervish of outrage, picking apart indefensible stupidities, and showing them up to be laughable. Let’s hope his anger management doesn’t put a stop to him fighting the good – and hilarious – fight.

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Saw at St Albans this week,travelled from the midlands and was well worth the risk of ice and snow! Enjoyed the warm up and Rhod had me and my wife in stitches. Not seen him live before and will definitely see again. Great night out.

Nick Stephens, December 2010

Saw the show tonight at St Albans Arena. Hilarious, should be available on prescription!

Pam Rowland, November 2010

Rhod at Eden Court Theatre in Inverness - 24th November. The audience was already fired up!, with Lloyd as support. An excellent atmosphere in the crowd that night, best so far this year for a comedian. Rhod didn't disappoint, you know what he's going to deliver, but to witness him perform live on stage, is brilliant! I can see why he has a permanently hoarse voice,non-stop for about two hours! His vocal chord's having ran the equivalent of a marathon. His banter with hecklers, drunk/sober was good humoured. Inverness audience went home contented knowing Rhod put in a vocal/physica 'tour de force' of a performance. I'm sure Rhod enjoyed himself in the Highland capital. Many thanks for coming this far North.

Douglas Thomson, November 2010

Worst live stand up I have ever seen. Saw him in Aberdeen on 25th of Nov 2010, appears he was having an off night. Show filled with self indulgent rants, mainly defending the (what seems like) justified criticism in the press. That and dwell on interacting with members of the audience, which proved to be not only completely uninteresting but also a way of spinning out his show. He appeared to be really struggling to produce any form of new material or any material what so ever. Seen him at his best on live at the Apollo, think he is proving to be spent. We walked out en mass after he spent 5 minutes justifying how s*** his year was in comparison to a women in the audience whose thyroid operation went wrong. Cringing and very disapointing. Support act also ranted in a similar negative ‘life is cr**” fashion. Poor all round. Save your pennies, refund or sell on if you have tickets in hand!

james, November 2010

Saw Rhod last in Wolverhampton, my cheeks were aching i was laughing that much! Can't wait to see him again, and it was brilliant to have Lloyd as the warm up act.

Claire Simpson, November 2010

Saw Rhod last night at The Dome in Doncaster and he was amazing, a must see.

John, November 2010

Saw Rhod at the Apollo earlier this year; although i really like his material the show went on for too long and the break in the middle diminished the flow; wasn't crying with laughter, some really good bits but some low spots as well. A solid hour would have been fantastic, nearly two hours...well, not so good.

Nik Hill, May 2010

Had to go to Kings Lynn to see him again, the first time I was him in Lowestoft I missed half the show because of crying with laughter. After the show he was warm and friendly and nothing was to much trouble for him. Wish he would come to Norwich

James C, April 2010

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