It’s been suggested to Ivo Graham that, in the current climate, he’s brave to make a show about his Eton schooldays. Graham mocks that idea, as indeed he mocks himself relentlessly throughout the set.
The 24-year-old’s upward career curve may fuel the notion of a public-school takeover of the arts, but his demeanour – bumbling self-absorption, squeaky voice, eyes often closed in seeming terror of the limelight – isn’t a great advert for an elite education. It’s like Hugh Grant’s less well-adjusted younger brother trying his hand at standup.
And succeeding. Graham’s whole life, he tells us, has prepared him for comedy, supplying him – from the moment he was dispatched to boarding school aged seven – with endless tales of humiliation and shame. It’s hard to imagine what he’d do with non-autobiographical material – Graham’s social maladroitness is the main joke here. But he mines it deeply and creatively, making it not just the content but the form of his humour. There’s minimal distance between the performer and the jokes about teenage virginity: the punchline about the Duke of Anjou – and later routines about online quiz site Sporcle – reveal grown-up Graham to be profoundly in touch with his inner nerd.
Sometimes, as with the sections sending up his masculine pride when he finally finds a girlfriend, Graham’s low self-esteem is almost painful. No one, meanwhile, will be steamrollered into submission by his delivery, which is faltering, shy and requires the writing to do most of the work.
Thankfully, with strong sequences such as the one that finds teenage Graham passing time at parties by writing premature thank-you letters to the host’s parents, the writing’s equal to the challenge. It’s a lovely show, posting a salutary if unsurprising reminder that, while Etonians may be born to rule, they’re just as likely to be doomed to social inadequacy.
• Until 15 November. Box office: 020-7478 0100. Venue: Soho theatre.
