Dave Gorman’s tour certainly wins the prize for clunkiest title this year. With Great PowerPoint Comes Great ResponsibilityPoint hardly trips off the tongue. Fortunately the actual show is a smoother ride.
It is a shame, then, that I can’t tell you exactly how it is smoother. In his lauded television series, Modern Life Is Goodish, Gorman has proved himself to be a gold standard pedant, ruthlessly exposing life’s little absurdities. He pulls off a similarly slick trick here for 90 minutes then proceeds to ask everyone not to reveal spoilers.
What one can divulge — apart from the fact that his trademark graphs and checked shirt are present and correct — is that there is real purpose to his pettifogging. The forensically-inclined performer sets out to suggest that the media fixation on misleading clickbait-friendly headlines may have contributed to the rise of fake news.
It is clearly a concern, yet until the final furlong he never gets too earnest, taking mostly playful swipes as he discusses shampoo usage, relocating to the seaside and more. But that’s already too much information. If I dissect his grandstanding giraffe gag I’ll probably get a lifetime Gorman-ban.
Needless to say, fans of his television work will relish his “Found Poems”, in which he creates something positively lyrical out of banal online comments. These mock-solemn recitals are high points in this exquisitely constructed show from a comic who is at the top of his game.
Also Nov 26 and Feb 16 (020 3879 9555, southbankcentre.co.uk)
