With many of the audience wearing Gorman's trademark checked shirts, [are fans who dress like him Gormanites or even perhaps Gormanghasts??], the Lowry's Lyric Theatre was very nearly full this evening for the first gig in his latest tour, 'With Great Powerpoint Comes Great Responsibilitypoint'.
For those of you unfamiliar with the ouevres of Gorman then he uses a computer and a screen to show certain things about our quotidian lives which more than probably would go completely under our radar if it wasn't for people like him picking the bones out them, taking them to pieces, and showing them for what they really are. [and yes, I'm aware of the tautology] He's not just an observational comedian, but a thinker, prober, analyst, and as he questions everything around him, finds that everything isn't always what it first appears to be.
I have always been a fan of Gorman from his many and varied TV appearances on shows such as QI, Taskmaster, 8 Out Of 10 Cats, etc etc, and of course with his own popular show, Modern Life Is Goodish. His TV persona has always been that of an intelligent and discerning family-oriented and caring individual who, although is perfectly capable of practical jokes and justified lambasting of other personalities, is actually deep down, a really 'nice guy'! I was therefore rather surprised this evening when Gorman managed to almost completely dispel that myth during his set. I don't think I have ever heard him swear on TV, but this evening the F-bomb was dropped more times than I could even think of counting, and his anger seemed real as her ranted until very red in the face several times. It was not the controlled and measured anger of his TV-self, but the rage of a middle-aged man with issues!
Now, none of this would really have mattered particularly if he hadn't have personally censored his support act and told him to 'tone it down' and be more family oriented! I also suppose that there is an in-built knowledge that watching a comedian live is going to be a little more un-PC and blue than the TV companies would allow - but at least for me this evening, the difference between the two images was too wide.
His support act was a young comedian who had worked with Gorman on all the series' of Modern Life Is Goodish, and was his warm-up act on his previous tour too; and although their slant on life was in many ways very similar their styles on stage were different. He was Nick Doody. And after a brief intro from Gorman, Doody had the stage for the whole of the first half.
Doody's style was laid-back and passive. None of us were really sure about him at first, and to be fair, I also think that he was somewhat nervous and unsure about us too. Opening night of a new tour, and you're faced with a sea of 2000 people all expecting Dave Gorman! As he himself wryly observed, he was the starter that no-one ordered, especially when we'd already seen our main course but that had been taken back to the kitchen to be heated up while we were force-fed poppadoms!
So with a slow start it took a while for us to warm to him and vice-versa. We eventually did, and his comedy songs, accompanied by himself on the keyboard were actually nicely observed and humorous.
After the interval, and we were back with the man himself. Using the tried and tested format of him, his little hand-held switch to change the screen's image as he goes along, the screen, and, of course the evening would not be complete without at least one of his now almost legendary 'Found Poems'; he was actually personable, interesting, and entertaining; although this evening, for whatever reason, he did come across as a little arrogant at times, and his material certainly wasn't as well-observed or as funny as I had hoped. However do listen out for his giraffe joke... that is hilarious!
[ I was going to mention some of the 'themes' or people being lampooned in his show, but since he expressly asked us not to divulge any of the content of the show, I am keeping to my part of that bargain here. Suffice is to say that if there is an umbrella title one can put to his new show then it would be his plea for greater honesty in the world, and that has to be a worthy message. ]
With a finishing time this evening of 10:50pm, the show seemed very long and over too late for a week night audience. Starting at 8:00pm though certainly didn't help!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 5/9/18
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