DVD review by Steve Bennett

At just a shade over an hour, this is a short show – but probably contains more punchlines than any other DVD this season.

Anyone who knows Francis’s work will know exactly what to expect: just one short joke after another, the vast majority being well-crafted little puzzles of language, which he elegantly wraps up for the audience’s entertainment. Double meanings aren’t over-explained, leaving the listener with the satisfying task of decoding the slow-burning punchlines themselves.

Some of his puns inevitably fall into the category of what you might call ‘dad jokes’ – if only your dad had such a smart comic mind. But Francis doesn’t play it for cheesiness value, like Tim Vine, but presents each gag unfussily, inviting you to admire the handiwork, whether you laugh or (only occasionally) groan.

Linguistic subversion is his game, but he also turns his own technique on its head a couple of times, deliberately provoking the audience with drawn-out gags about his time-wasting, for example. But not a fraction of a second is wasted – not even here – as his gags run with the smoothness and precision of a high-end Lexus.

His show is not all harmless puns, he sometimes touches on real life, such as a wonderfully belittling, yet laser-accurate description of Ed Miliband that you’ll find hard to shake off, and even teasing the audience a few grown-up topics that earn the DVD a 15 certificate (and the C-bomb probably didn’t help). But it’s almost family viewing, if you’re not too precious or your children not too young.

There’s no big story or unique world view – nothing to give any insight into Francis as anything other than a slickly efficient joke-machine. Perfunctory audience interaction is occasionally used for set-ups, but this laconic Canadian doesn’t even need an answer, it’s all about the gag.

Despite that, he is humanised by the self-effacing expression he almost permanently wears, and the wry delivery that gives away the fact that while he is telling the gags deadpan, this is a funny situation for a grown man to be in.

Outstanding In His Field is a DVD that, unlike many, will bear up to repeated viewing as it’s so jam-packed with the sort of swift jokes you’d want to repeat at work the next day, but almost certainly won’t remember.

Published: 27 Nov 2012