For most of Friday I didn’t think the performance would be going ahead. Like the majority of the country Cardiff had seen a surprise second covering of heavy snow bringing the city to a stand still. After the amount of effort I’d put in to getting hold of the tickets I was pleased to eventually find out the show was still on.
Support was superbly provided by Will Smith. No not the star of ‘Men In Black’ but the very funny British stand up comedian of the same name. Naturally his name led to enough material to fill the opening few minutes of his set. He quickly won over what generally seemed to be a new crowd and got his fair share of belly laughs early on. When discussing the state of the youth of today and then later Tony Blair he had a real star quality about him and despite the fact he’s an incredibly posh Englishmen he had a tiny hint of Bill Hicks in him. It didn’t surprise me when I read this week that he was one of the main writers of Armando Iannucci’s Time Trumpet. Being part of a record breaking tour will no doubt further his career in some way.
The opening moments of the main event were hilariously self indulgent. The lights went out and the theme tune to ‘Stars In Their Eyes’ began to play. A pre-recorded audio message from Matthew Kelly ran through the many awards and achievements Ricky Gervais has claimed his own before Kelly asked the famous question.
Matthew Kelly: “So then Ricky, who you going to be?”
Ricky Gervais: “Tonight Matthew I’m going to be Ricky Gervais!”
The spotlight flicked on centre stage and the dry ice switched on. As Gervais stepped through the curtains, complete with crown and royal gown, ‘One Vision’ by Queen blasted out of the arena sound system. He started to strut around the stage, high kicks and air guitar aplenty. And when you thought the audience couldn’t get any louder the huge theatre curtains were pulled back to reveal ‘RICKY’ in ten foot neon letters.
Anyone who’s seen the other live shows would recognise the routine. Once he’d thanked us all for being there he made his way to his notes on the podium and opened his can of Carling. He immediately launched into a set about the teenage cancer trust doing that thing he does so well, making you feel extremely guilty for laughing about some cruel subjects. This he does all night, almost systematically ticking the boxes going through the illnesses. There are no taboos as he discusses a vast array of topics never to be heard on national T.V. These include ‘queer holes in men’s toilets’ and then later in the set, ‘fucking monkeys up the arse’. He had a big rant about obesity being considered a disease, an idea he found ridiculous. He pictured Jesus telling a gang of lepers “Sorry lads you’ll have to wait, I’m off to heal that fat bird over there”. It was a fantastic show.
I’m just glad I got to see him perform live as I’m unsure whether he’ll do another tour. He seems to be getting increasingly famous by the day and with the movie roles coming in I imagine he’ll have bigger fish to fry come next year. His reputation took a bit of a knock with the weak reviews of the second series of ‘Extras’ but it’s fair to say Ricky Gervais has the Midas touch. From sitcom to podcast he's been the best in the field so it’s probably only a matter of time before he begins to play the lead roles in film. The momentum of his career doesn't look like it's going to stop. No wonder the title of his show is 'Fame'.
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