Review by Steve Bennett

There’s just too much here, in both content and style, that seems to be picked off the shelf marked ‘comedy staples’; which means that even though he’s a relative newcomer, much of his act seems old.

Anyone who starts ‘It’s good to be here, but then I’m from , so it’s good to be anywhere’ immediately flags up their unoriginality – and that’s by no means the only ancient gag he’s purloined for his set. Likewise, he can’t come up with anything on the likes of Claims Direct ads or how shitty his neighbourhood is that much more experienced acts haven’t already tried – and done a better job of.

In delivery, too, he shamelessly employs every trick in the book, with a deliberate, declamatory style that’s forcing what he says into the pattern of a joke. When he says, for example: ‘We were poor,’ you can almost time the pause where he imagines someone saying: ‘How poor?’, music-hall style before he delivers the punchline.

It’s a very mechanical approach, but, to his credit, he does operate the machinery well; and his energetic approach keeps driving the gags home effectively. So despite the limitations of the templates he uses, he does have the power to build up a head of steam and get the room laughing.

This, and a smattering of good gags that go beyond the expected, suggest that he still has potential to grow into a better comic. But now he has the grounding, he needs to continue to edge himself out of the comfort zone to avoid falling into the trap of over-familiarity.

Review date: 5 Jun 2008
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett