Dom Joly

'Maybe the evening is intended for fans only' ... Dom Joly

There's not much in my career I'm proud of, says Dom Joly – and this, his first live show, is unlikely to extend that short list. It's not standup, just chat, in which the hidden-camera prankster screens clips from Trigger Happy TV, talks us through his rather depressing CV, and engages in deathless tit-for-tat with the audience. Genial as he seems, Joly proves himself no comedian, nor even an insightful raconteur. As banal tale of reality TV follows so-so tale of global travel, one's interest dwindles sharply.
Maybe the evening is intended for fans only – but they could see these clips on YouTube. The unconverted, meanwhile, will stay that way: the supposed highlights of Trigger Happy shown here are often crass and dimwitted. This poor man's Chris Morris is surprised when the BBC sacks him, and rushes into the arms of Sky, for whom he does a pissed-up world tour. Later, Joly recounts visits to North Korea and Lebanon. The level of wit and intelligence here reaches its apex when our host notices with a thrill that Prypiat (near Chernobyl) provided the backdrop to Call of Duty, his favourite videogame.
Throughout, and notwithstanding the egotism of this whole enterprise, the I'm a Celebrity veteran asserts his indifference to celebrity. And yet he gets excited at the presence of Big Brother "star" Brian Belo, who is invited onstage to smash a guitar. (A rock'n'roll thing to do, apparently – if not a funny one.) A later Q&A session involves Joly arguing with a punter about the quality of his wristwatch. Never mind Trigger Happy; my trigger finger was twitching. Joly's climactic stunt necessitates fleeing the theatre in haste without stopping to applaud ... I doubt I was alone in being delighted to oblige