Review: Dave Gorman – Sit Down, Pedal, Pedal, Stop and Stand Up

Saturday 27th February, 8.00 at The Corn Exchange. 

Dave Gorman is that man who went round the world meeting someone with his name for every card in a deck, including the jokers, all because his flat-mate dared him, and the same man who went travelling again to meet all the people who had found Googlewhacks.   A tour where he cycled from venue to venue sounds similarly eccentric but, long before he got to the Cambridge Corn Exchange he had given up on the actual cycling and any material that might have made all the sweat and all the miles worth it. 

I was expecting a night of anecdotes about sore legs, rusty chains and lycra but joyously, all reference to the sport were over in the first ten seconds.  Though what followed was normal in that it cannot be described as anything but straight forward stand up, Dave Gorman was still untraditional.  

I can’t give anything away about the show because we were oh so sweetly asked at the end to keep what we had seen a secret.  He’s a nice enough bloke that I feel obliged and I wouldn’t want to ruin a night you should see for yourself; travel to Portsmouth, Plymouth or Bedford if you have to.   Or, in the unlikely event that you don’t think my recommendation is reason enough for a night in a south coast Holiday Inn, buy the DVD.  

Dave Gorman convinced me he would be the same man over an Indian in front of the TV at home as he was on stage, doubled over with laughter at his own jokes, telling stories of real life events I almost believed.  He told us he had made them up but like kids who are told to take things back they have stolen from the newsagent, there was no way you couldn’t forgive him.     

So much about the evening is clever, tying itself together wonderfully in a way that has you kicking yourself that you didn’t see it coming.  Dave Gorman’s intelligence is patent and he demands that the audience is able to keep up.  Gorman was so perceptive of what actually makes me laugh, though I have a sneaky suspicion it is a cultural change, dividing stand up fans between Lee Mack’s brash, high energy approach and the apparent honesty and familiarity of all that I have loved recently.  Of course he knew full well he was playing in front of 2,000 people but let on he was just a little bit surprised.  Gorman invited the audience to come and ‘have a chat’ after the show and every single one of us felt special and warm inside.  In reality, a queue wound round the Corn Exchange bar of people waiting to have their book signed and move on, every bit as personal as cattle on their way to market. 

I don’t know how much Gorman really is the witty man down the street he sells himself as, and I appreciate my genes have stripped me of appropriate blond locks, but I want to believe it’s true.  The vast likelihood is that it’s all an act and he knows exactly how good he is, but even then, it’s an ego worth boosting. Go if ever you can.