DVD review by Steve Bennett

Danny Bhoy makes no bones about the fact this DVD, recorded in Montreal, is aimed at the US market. This Scottish comic certainly Jocked it up for the Americans, opening with bagpipes, performing in front of a mocked-up castle and milking national stereotypes such as the drinking culture.

His compatriots aren’t the only people to be defined by universal traits,however. Bhoy’s comedy is often broad, relying on widely-shared received opinion as a shorthand to kick-start his routines. Once he’s reinforced the idea of Italian men as sexually confident crotch-grabbers, he can spin off some more original gags. Once he’s reinforced the idea of North America awash with media while ‘back home we've only got four channels’ (as if!) he can launch into his routine about weird US programmes.

Quality control is patchy: sometimes he takes the prevailing ideas a step further, but other times he seems too obvious or hackneyed. His experience of the internet is of being bombared with pop-ups for bigger dicks; while the ‘credit crunch’ sounds like a breakfast cereal. Yeah, yeah…

He’s a charismatic presence, though, and he presses this into full service for the extended stories that are the backbone of this show, whether it’s encountering a gekko in his hotel room or the Queen at Buckingham Palace. He’s got some excellent lines to back up some of his astute observations, but even when he hasn’t, his superheated charm and effortless delivery keep you engaged. And there is enough shared experiences in the show to have home audiences nodding along with recognition.

Subject To Change (a title that’s never explained) probably doesn’t have enough depth to have you returning to it time and again, but it’s a reliably-amusing time-filler.

Danny Bhoy: Subject To Change
Recorded in: Montreal
Certificate: 15
Running time: 70 mins
Extras: A Visitor's Guide to Scotland and A Guide to American Sports
Released by: PIAS Comedy, November 8
Price: £19.99. Click here to buy from Amazon for £11.63

Published: 10 Dec 2010