Pour Some Gravy On Me Just some stuff

You’re probably doing quite well for yourself when you sell out 3000-seat theatres.  But then, you’ve probably heard of Ricky Gervais.  This was his fourth stand-up show, Science.  It’s fair to say that it featured less science than the gig that I went to the night before.

The support act for the evening was Stewart Francis, who you may have seen on Mock The Week.  His style is rapid fire, deadpan one-liners.  This may work well on a panel show, but I’m not sure how well it translated to a full set.  Some of his individual lines are funny but his delivery doesn’t really build a rapport with the audience.  His material also veered deep in to the territory of 1970s club comedian (‘funny’ Scottish accents and talking ‘like’ someone who is disabled), there didn’t even seem to be a veneer of irony to it.  At least Ricky has the veneer of irony.

And so, to the main event.  I realised that I hadn’t heard a great deal about this tour – which was a little worrying.  My friend (who I went with) said that she’d heard a few negative reviews, so I didn’t really know what to expect.  Also, I find it difficult to judge the show and his material objectively.  You’ve paid £30 for tickets for a 1 hour 20 minute stand up set, in a massive theatre, by the world’s most famous English comedian, who doesn’t have vast experience of actually doing stand up.  How do you balance those expectations?

The show started with a video package in the form of a charity appeal (I really won’t say what for), which was hosted by US comedian Louis C.K.  Although it was pretty funny, it was a little worrying that he started off with someone who was practically unknown in the UK.  The video seemed to be directed at the US audience, and so it smacked of being a little lazy.

Luckily, the show itself was very funny.

The theme was largely irrelevant – which Gervais himself addressed.  They should probably have just gone for a random title rather than pretending to have a theme.  One of his big set pieces was a dissection of the story of Noah’s Ark.  I’ve read some criticism that the idea of picking apart bible stories is a bit hackneyed, which may be true.  The important thing was that it was very funny.   Despite not having the on-stage experience of some of his contemporaries, he’s an engaging and confident performer.

The worst I can say about the evening is that I wasn’t blown away.  If the venue had been a little more humble, the ticket price a little more reasonable and the material trimmed of a little flab, then maybe I would have been.