When most people hear Steve Merchant’s name, they immediately think of his bigger ego’d and largely more famous comedic partner Ricky Gervais. They were the creators of the multi award winning comedy-drama shows ‘The Office’ and ‘Extras’, which means any other projects they are involved in are automatically given a significantly large standard to keep up to. Ricky Gervais has so far released 4 stand-up DVDs, all of which have been welcomed with large critical praise, even though they have been also met with much controversy about some of Gervais’ jokes. Needless to say, Stephen Merchant had a lot to live up to in his first ever stand up tour.
When I first heard that Stephen Merchant was doing a stand up tour, I was in all meanings of the word ecstatic. Having previously seen Extras, The Office and An Idiot Abroad, I was more than aware of how talented Steve was. Most people concentrated on Gervais’, but I always found Stephen Merchant to be the underdog of the duo. His shy, awkward nature along with his abnormal height gave me the feeling he has a much deeper, less egotistical persona than Gervais. However, due to his personality, I have to admit that I had my doubts that he would be able to keep his cool on stage and remain funny throughout his performance.
My initial plan was to purchase a ticket and see him during his tour, but it slipped to the back of my mind and I unfortunately missed out on the chance. I found myself in deep regret as I waited less than patiently for the DVD of the tour to be released. Finally, I was quick to buy it on the day it was released and got to watching it as soon as I got home.
The DVD cuts right to the chase and Steve gives a satisfactory introduction, albeit lacking something that Rick Gervais’ had in his introductions. For the first few minutes, I have to admit I was somewhat disappointed; he begins by interacting with the crowd in multiple ways, posing for pictures and over-hyping his intro deliberately. This would have made for some great material, however it is a technique that has been used by many stand-up comedians in the past and could be easily seen nowadays as a cliché.
On the contrary, once he starts getting in to it, Steve displays an amount of enthusiasm that I have never seen before from him, it made me feel that he had broken free from Gervais’ grasp and that he is becoming a man of his own. Throughout most of the act, he gives the viewer a multitude of extremely funny anecdotes that I think surpass anything his comedic partner has ever told. Intercut with his anecdotes include sections involving props and many other creative devices that have the audience roaring with laughter throughout. One thing that did surprise me is that some of the material Steve showed was... rude, if you get what I mean. It was really quite disturbing...
After approximately an hour of genius comedy, Stephen leaves the stage to huge cheers that are tremendous giving the average size of the audience. Like all good stand-up comics, however, Steve comes back on for an encore that really does make the act go out with a bang. Steve gets 2 audience members up, a man and a woman, and re-enacts a public awareness play he wrote for his GCSE in Drama called ‘Choices’. I can’t say too much about it without giving it all away, but I have to say it had me in stitches. Finally, Steve leaves the stage to claps and cheers even louder than before, rounding off a hilarious, exhilarating and surprisingly confident performance.
Conclusion
Stephen Merchant is no doubt one of the best comedic geniuses on television, but his move to stand-up comedy was always going to be a tricky one. I approached the act with expectations low so as not to be disappointed, but even so, Stephen Merchant has so vastly exceeded my expectations as a stand-up comedian that I can safely go ahead and say he is among the best stand-up comedians that I have ever seen, and trust me, I've seen many.
If I could compare Steve Merchant’s act to anyone else’s, it would definitely be closest to Ricky Gervais’ act. The use of a projector to display images and his deep analysis and emphasis he used in his anecdotes mirror that of Gervais, although I find Steve to perform a lot better.
So if you are looking for great laughs and overall exhilarating comedy, look no further, as Merchant’s stories of clumsily looking for love and his mishaps with newspapers will keep your funny bones going for hours.
Final Score:
9.3/10
Official Fail
