Show Rating:

It’s often noted that stand up’s lowest common denominator is the white middle-class male. Some trade on their meek upbringing and mild mannered demeanour, but no one does it quite like and to the extent of Miles Jupp.

You can easily imagine that if you were to cut Jupp, he would bleed raspberry coulis with a crème fraiche drizzle.

Bookended – if you’ll excuse the pun – by a story of him having his book stolen on a train, Jupp is not so much furious but bewildered by the acts of dishonesty perpetrated against him.

Jupp covers topics that often appear in the white male stand up’s set: train travel, toilet activities and health problems in the trouser department – but he puts a different spin on them making them very much his own.

Verbose and highly eloquent, Jupp has a turn of phrase and keenly observed detail for all situations. When he interrupted his mother’s preparations for a dinner party by presenting her with a painfully swollen groin, he notes that before ringing for a doctor ‘my mother covered the food with foil’.

He even manages to make a story about there being no loo roll when he went for a pre-show poo sound like high literature.

But it’s dishonesty and the trend for unbelted, low-slung jeans that get his proverbial goat the most, with fine rants against both. Surely Drifting marks a new level of middle-class angst in comedy.

Reviewed by: Marissa Burgess

When can I see this show?

When: 19:45 - Friday 12th Dec, '08 Venue: Kings Head Theatre Prices: £10 (£9 concs) Info: Followed by Kate Robbins: Songs from the Pool. £15 (£14 concs) for both shows Show: Miles Jupp: Drifting

When: 20:00 - Saturday 24th Jan, '09 Venue: Coventry Warwick Arts Centre Prices: £10.50 (£850 concs) Show: Miles Jupp: Drifting

When: 20:00 - Tuesday 24th Mar, '09 Venue: Norwich Arts Centre Prices: £10 (£8 concs) Show: Miles Jupp: Drifting