Review by Steve Bennett

Starting with an old sporting gag about the benefits of grass vs Astroturf doesn’t help, nor does ending things with a bawdy pub gag. In between, he mostly keeps to safe ground with routines about being too lazy for gym, an embarrassing urethra examination and childhood toys of the Eighties pressing some easy-to-reach buttons.

In these thrifty times, he does have a knack for making a lot out of a little, letting his segments grow step by baby step, so wringing every possible laugh out of each premise. In delivery, he’s Mr Cool, looking effortlessly at home behind the mic, exuding that air of the proverbial witty mate down the pub.

He can up his game when he needs to, though, and brings a nice physicality to moments such as the re-creation of the a stiff post-gym walk, while demonstrating an entertaining, versatile performance when it comes to his routine about tennis players’ names.

These skills certainly elevate the content, and often it needs it, as the writing is lightweight and chatty. It may fit his Everyman persona, but it would be more impressive if it wasn’t the sort of stuff every man could think of – which rather too often it is. Yet equally, just when the set is bobbing along predictably, he can surprise with a juicy, original line, and his dialogue at the end of the show is ambitiously deconstructional.

Over the hour, there’s maybe ten to 15 minutes of strong stuff, the rest is merely adequate – which suggests a club set being desperately overstretched.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Melbourne, April 2009

Review date: 1 Jan 2013
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett