This was not the first time I had seen Gary Delaney live, but I have to say it was by far the most enjoyable. Delaney's style has changed somewhat, and altogether his set was extremely funny and exactly what I needed to put a smile on my face after a miserable weekend!
I think his marriage to comedy-partner-in-crime Sarah Millican must have had a huge effect on the way Delaney's own delivery and presence has developed, and I can only say that this is most definitely for the better. My first taste of Delaney was quite a few years ago when he basically stood straight and still in front of the microphone, dour and po-faced, and reeled off a string of extremely intelligent and clever puns and other word-play jokes. In fact it is that cleverness with words that first brought Delaney to my attention. I am a sucker for clever language-based humour. However, I found his set at that time rather self-aggrandising and arrogant. I have seen him twice since, [once at The Comedy Store with Sarah Millican {his then girlfriend}as they both tried out some new material, and once a year or so ago at The Lowry) and so this now marks my forth round with him, and he has definitely improved with maturity and husbandhood. This was most certainly his best set to date, and he was a completely different comedian from some years ago.
Yes the language-based humour is still there, but now it speaks more to the hoi polloi and not the Eton elite as it once used. He is much more relaxed, moves about a lot, chats to the audience - something he never did on my first experience! - and he now seems to genuinely enjoy being a stand-up and telling silly, lewd, lascivious and puerile jokes. - and why not? - they are VERY funny, and in a world where there is so much (too much) censorship on what we can and can't say or find funny, his humour came as a welcome relief from the high-and-mighty PC Brigade!
He has a very infectious laugh, and as he chats - ad libs - goes off course - and brings himself back round again - you get a true glimpse of a man who is having a great time, doing something he loves, and bringing a lot of pleasure to others whilst doing it.
If I had to be in any way negative about Delaney, then I would say that he swears a little too often for my taste. Humour is either funny or it isn't depending on your point of view, very rarely is humour improved by expletives.
Another testament to the rise in popularity of Delaney is that last time he played The Lowry he was in The Aldridge Studio, and without a support act. This evening he was in the larger Quays Theatre and he had a support comedian! This was Andy Robinson, who, after a very shaky and silent start to his set, eventually found his rhythm and garnered a few laughs from tonight's audience, although in the main, he was not of the same calibre as Delaney and the laughs were quiet and polite. With his set containing quite a few jokes which didn't land, it was obvious he didn't know his audience, and I found his Paul Hollywood comments quite offensive.
Gary Delaney is now using a computer and screen as part of this tour, in a very similar way to Dave Gorman's now famous power-point presentations. Here we were shown slides of his bastardising of Wikipedia comments, leaving fake reviews on TripAdvisor, Amazon etc, and these were very funny and added a lovely dimension to his set. We got to hear the vetoed jokes from his recent 'Live At The Apollo' appearance, and saw his favourite joke, which is actually a visual gag... of a mime who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome.
This evening's humour was more plebian than I have previously encounterd from Delaney; that's not to say that there weren't some extremely clever linguistic jokes in there too - there were - but only a handful. The rest were far more down-to-earth, and some down-right smut! But there was a very good mix, and Delaney has found the right balance and a style that really works well for him. He was having a great time this evening, and so were we. Gagster's Paradise is just that: wall-to-wall gags in no particular order, just quick-fire humour for all tastes, and not one from his set missed the bull!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 14/4/19
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