Show Rating:

Michael McIntyre may have it all, the regular TV appearances, the big venue, the sold-out run. What more could a comedian want? More laughter and applause breaks apparently.

Although most of the crowd enjoyed McIntyre’s light observational wit, two poor souls in the front row were either not enjoying it or not displaying their enjoyment visibly enough for the bouncy-haired comic, which led to their awkward chastisement fairly early on in the proceedings.

Although it seemed to have very little impact on how the rest of the audience were responding, their undemonstrative gait seemed to knock McIntyre, and he returned to the pair throughout the evening, to point out they still looked suicidal.

He ploughed through his material with his trademark grin, giggling after each of his favourite jokes as an indicator that we should do the same and the crowd did, but when McIntyre ended a rather weak routine about traditional Scottish dress and didn’t receive a unified applause break he was completely thrown and half pleaded, half berated the audience until he got one.

He pulled out his ‘Mayday story’ letting us know that this was the best he had and that he felt embarrassed by the situation we’d put him in. The tale of wanking into his father-in-law’s sock did the trick, as the crowd then clapped at every opportunity, as instructed.

It was an odd situation and I imagine unlikely to happen very often during a McIntyre set, but it tainted an otherwise lighthearted and enjoyable gig.

McIntyre is a very slick performer who isn’t going to make you think too hard. His comedy relies more on silly voices and ‘isn’t it funny when...’ observations and although it will never change the world it does make people laugh – just not when they are being coerced to do so.

Reviewed by: Corry Shaw