Jason Manford, O2 Arena - review

The public clearly cares little about indiscretions and dodgy television as long as a comedian delivers onstage. And on last night's form Manford can certainly do that.
Someone must surely be doing a PhD on why the north of England produces such natural clowns.

The amiable, flowery-shirted Mancunian is effortlessly entertaining, mixing zippy one-liners with lengthier anecdotes, such as the touchingly self-mocking tale of watching a granny choose Michael Mcintyre's DVD over one of his in his local store.

Smart asides really sell his gags. When describing an old man failing to lock a train lavatory door properly, he adds that when it slid open "it revealed him like a Bullseye prize".

There was little politics and no Stewart Lee-style meta-humour here. Supermarket scanners, parenthood and vajazzling had inevitable cameos. This was the 173rd and final gig of the tour, so some material was showing its age, though.

A riff on the Andy Gray and Richard Keys soccer sexism furore felt like history but it still prompted a roar, so one can hardly red card the decision to retain it.

The topic that was most fruitful, however, was Manford's unapologetically eccentric father, a man who, when his kitchen was invaded by ants, went around injuring some with a spoon as a warning to other ants.

The offbeat outlook is clearly genetic. Give Michael McIntyre a rest and ask Santa for Manford's new DVD this Christmas instead.

Jason Manford
O2 Arena
SE10 0BF