Joe Lycett is not just a man with a plan, he’s a comedian that has morphed into a professional prankster who is always scheming and cooking up another stunt. As he revealed at the AO Arena in Manchester on Tuesday night during his More, More, More! How Do You Lycett? How Do You Lycett? tour, it’s a skill he’s mastered with finesse.
Appearing on stage via a garden shed (very wholesome) and donning a blue boiler suit (“I look like Hannibal Lector doing a shift at Kwik Fit”), Joe eases us into the show and steps out into the audience. He even takes the opportunity to do a bit of flirting (not so wholesome).
After his introduction we’re treated to a warm up act from Manchester’s own Brennan Reece before Joe takes to the stage once more. As he walks around the stage, lit up with his own artwork, he uses a projector screen to share video clips, screen shots and tweets of the mischievous antics he’s been up to recently.
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It’s an effective way of weaving social media and meme culture into a live show - and of course his controversial appearance on Laura Kuenssberg’s BBC show gets a starring role, to the delight of the audience. Although he did miss the opportunity to utter the infamous line ‘next slide please’ while flicking through various photos.
Joe talks us through his schemes, one of which takes the mick out of influencer culture. In a world where everyone on Instagram with a letter in their follower count is trying to make money, Joe takes the opposite approach. There’s one particular hilarious exchange with one company which spirals out of control - and features a brand of humour which would make “the Sewing Bee people” blush.
Nobody is immune from Joe’s pranks and everyone from Sir Alan Sugar to Boris Johnson has been on the receiving end. What makes his jibes even funnier is that some fail to see the irony and fall in his trap - Nadine Dorries even retweeted Joe’s tweet mocking Johnson. These social media exploits make for great fodder on stage - “the Minister for Digital Culture…” Joe utters as he takes a sip of lager, after showing us her tweet.
But analysing his often very public social media jokes for a full live show wouldn’t quite be enough, so Joe has something else up his sleeve. For the last couple of years he’s been working on a secret project, and, like a Bond villain explaining his goal of world domination, Joe talks us through his biggest adventure yet.
It’s big, it’s bold and it sees Joe end up in some very funny situations (not to mention a brush with the law). Yet there’s one final twist: the audience are sworn to secrecy on the details of the stunt.
In a show which relies so much on tweets and video clips already openly visible online, it leaves you with a warm buzz which you get from sharing an experience in real life. In an age of social media influencers, Joe shows how you can influence real change without bragging about it - and makes an arena full of people howl with laughter in the process.
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