Gig review by Steve Bennett

‘Let me come among you,’ says Joe Lycett as he climbs from the Latitude stage, campy channeling Julian Clary for a moment. But delivering his set standing amid the audience in the comedy marquee served to demolish the metaphorical fourth wall, allowing him to gossip indiscreetly with his new mates.

He is the epitome of affability on stage, with a naughty side that, when it surfaces in the outside world, he calls Walrus. It’s an utterly disarming alter ego – literally, in fact, as his middle-class gift of the gab managed to talk himself out of a mugging, as he entertainingly recounts.

For he has an unthreatening charm, but his playfulness doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the world which gives him a bit of an edge among those who don’t quite ‘get him’. Thus when he combats the laddish mentality – a pretty familiar stance in stand-up – it’s by directly winding up a alpha male, getting the upper hand from being sillier and more carefree. Similarly when he gets hate mail online, and responds, it’s not long before the troll wants out.

He has an excellent way of telling a story, heightening his incredulity and evoking some great turns of phrase. Unsuccessfully challenging a parking ticket in his native Birmingham might seem a mundane premise, but it’s brilliantly brought to life, with expert characterisation of those involved. The penalty charge must be the best £40 or so he ever spent, given that it’s given him such a great story.

Lycett can drop a c-bomb with such precision that it’s more of a c-missile; while his set piece finale involving tacky holiday souvenirs again finds brilliance in what could be merely workaday, and proved a good tonic for this afternoon crowd.

Review date: 18 Jul 2014
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Latitude