Jason Manford: #FirstWorldProblems

Josh Murray reviews Jason Manford at Warwick Arts Centre, Wednesday 15th January 2014.

It seems a long time now since Jason Manford was appearing weekly alongside Jimmy Carr and Sean Lock as team captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats. Since leaving the show in 2011, he has quickly become one of the country’s most well-loved stand-up comedians (one infamous controversy aside), appearing on countless panel shows, and even turning his hand to West End musicals and opera when opportunities arose.

His return to the Warwick Arts Centre was highly anticipated. Even a ten-minute delay to proceedings did little to stifle the excitement in the room, merely providing Manford with a characteristically casual start to the show: ‘Don’t know why we were late – some technical problem or something. Anyway…’ A nationwide tour running for 180 nights may seem like it would be an arduous task to most comedians but the length of Manford’s marathon ‘First World Problems’ tour seems to be having little affect on him – the man genuinely seems to love what he is doing.

The natural way in which he joked with individuals from the audience, before fondly recalling shows he did at Camp Bastion (on one night, he was required to ‘ask the snipers to move to the back of the room, please’) made you feel as if you were just sat at the pub, sharing a drink with a particularly hilarious mate.

A proud Manchurian, few people in the audience were surprised as he quipped on a variety of British towns with brilliant accuracy, often joking at how Coventry and Warwick are seemingly interchangeable locations – an observation that certainly resonated with the university students in the room. Liverpool also took a bashing, but it was the self-deprecating response to his hometown that caused the biggest laughs.

A particular highlight on the night was a spontaneous phone call with the husband of an unlucky front row member. After five minutes of voicemail messages and narrowly missed calls (which themselves had the audience in stitches), the 32-year-old hilariously moaned at the man for having chosen to take the dog for a walk over coming to the show. To be fair to the faceless voice on the other end, he held his own well against such an experienced jokester. This early audience involvement quickly set the tone for the night. Spectators were constantly involved in proceedings, partially explaining why Manford appears to be having so much fun – every show must be completely different on this tour.

During the interval, random audience members were given pieces of paper and asked to write their biggest ‘first world problem’. He then read a selection out at the start of the second half, to thunderous response. Personal favourites included a guy who felt intense frustration at the poor compatibility of Warburton’s bread to a regular sized toaster and another who seemed genuinely upset that his drive to work was too short to allow his car to sufficiently heat up. The Mancunian then provided a few ‘problems’ of his own, including that universal horror of coming home from a long day to find your bed sheets washed and the bed needing to be made.

[pullquote style=”left” quote=”dark”]Some of the night’s biggest laughs came from discussion of his three young girls, including a ‘psychopath two-year-old’…[/pullquote]

The regular TV panellist is perhaps best loved for the brilliance of his personal anecdotes. Some of the night’s biggest laughs came from discussion of his three young girls, including a ‘psychopath two-year-old’ that takes a weird pleasure in choosing to sit herself on the naughty step. In reference to one of his four-year-old twins, he recalls a time when she came into the house having ‘done a poo in her knickers’. Without spoiling the hilarious punch-line of the story, we were soon asked to consider the last time that we had soiled ourselves through laughter – a thought-provoking question for a comedy gig.

The constant mix of prepared anecdotes and spontaneous interaction with the audience meant that the show remained at a fluent pace, and there was genuine joy when he returned for a lengthy, 20-minute ‘encore’ which turned into a ridiculous pantomime that we are all part of, Manford joked.

Manford’s tour will roll on for another few months yet. There are still over 50 shows until the finale in April. If you get a chance to go see him, I’d urge you to do so – just make sure you don’t give him a reason to call one of your relatives!