Tour review

There’s no doubt that the way men interact with each other is very much in the social spotlight. Josh Berry’s take on the male loneliness crisis and the fact that blokes are so often reluctant to engage with each other with any depth or sincerity therefore feels timely and helpful, even if he’s not saying anything particularly new.

He uses the sociological term ‘homo-hysteria’ to discuss the damaging trait of men not opening up for fear that any genuine display of affection can be considered a ‘bit gay’. Though you might have hoped we’d have moved on from thinking being gay was anything out the ordinary, let alone something to fear, but here we are.

He characterises his audiences as the demographic that need to hear his message – predominantly finance bros, most likely called Laurence. He mentions a Schöffel and knows everyone will understand it’s a gillet, alongside references to Whoop bands and Steven Bartlett, the Diary Of A CEO podcaster. These are his people.

After a first half entirely comprised of crowd work by warm-up Preet Singh, Berry opens his show with more, although to less effect and making the show seem slow to start. Some of this, perhaps, is down to Reading being a hometown gig, encouraging him to drop in lots of local references.

His way into the meat of the show is via the politically incorrect Pot Noodle ads of the 2000s, recreating one to show how far we’ve come. Gone, too, he believes is the heyday of the Boris-style shagger politician… handily ignoring how the President of the USA likes to describe grabbing women.

While welcoming a generally less toxic society, Berry also has a pop at the other side, lamenting the loss of machismo by imagining fey liberal gen-Zs on the Ukrainian front line. And these youngsters do like to self-diagnose with ADHD, don’t you know?

These quips playing into cross-generational tension, like a lot of Berry’s jokes, play it relatively safe, sometimes to the point of hack. For example, the idea that the supposedly alpha, hetero sport of rugby’s a ‘bit gay’ when think about those strapping lads having a huddle before some bawdy post-match horseplay has been a trope for decades.

Berry came to the world’s attention as an impressionist on social media, and Best Man features a smattering of spot-on impersonations, including Gordon Ramsey, Kier Starmer’s sex talk and the big names from the world of tennis commentating on his masturbation ‘career’. Another sketch personifies German and South African dogs though their national stereotypes and accents.

What’s this to do with toxic masculinity, you might well ask. But these tangential skits are generally funnier than the core story, so you can see why he keeps them in.

As well as exploring the ‘best man’ he could be, this show also has a literal interpretation of the title, with a running story about his mate asking him to be his best man at a wedding. Or at least joint best man.

That ties into the unhelpful male traits such as jealousy as Berry sarcastically slams his ‘rival’ best man’s character, from being a GP – what a bastard! – to running marathons, all with dismissive ‘what’s the deal with that?’ slices of observational comedy. They are decent if unspectacular standalone routines, though the marathon bit does have a fine payoff. His dad getting trans allyship so clumsily wrong is also a strong routine, as is his description of the trials of turning his mum’s dating profile for her.

Given he’s a performer, he was invited to deliver the best man speech, and his first draft – an archetypal roast –  feeds into the male fear of expressing  genuine emotional intimacy. 

Berry’s list of don’ts for anyone else in the same situation is, however, sluggish and loses the comedy focus and ends with the rather trite concluding: ‘I realised in that moment that the bravest thing a man could do’ is to open up emotionally…’

While little of the content is particularly incisive, Berry has shown astuteness in latching on to the zeitgeist and expressing it eloquently, and wittily. 

So grasping the opportunity to say with depth and sincerity what I think about another man, let me say that Josh Berry’s  show is, well, kinda OK.

• Josh Berry: Best Man is on tour until October. Dates.

Review date: 16 Feb 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Reading Sub89