Clarke isn’t a “dangerous” comedian, unless you’re worried about losing bladder control from laughing too much.
You can list the subjects he talks about; it’s a long list, from the Commonwealth Games (and how most Scots are genuinely surprised that we didn’t fuck them up) to his dislike of airport shops, from why he isn’t a golf-loving Alpha Male to schoolyard nicknames and the agonies involved in getting his first “proper haircut”. On paper you can see how he mixes in a few topical subjects with his own personal take on experiences that are surprisingly universal (though even Clarke seemed surprised at just how many people in the audience on the night of this review had their school jotters covered in unused wallpaper—is that a peculiarly Scottish thing?)
On paper, though, such a list lacks any of the life that Clarke brings to the stage. Clarke’s a self-confessed fidget, of course; on this occasion, he’s even invested in a natty stool in the vague hope that, by forcing himself to sit on it, he can save at least some of his audience from whiplash injuries as he roams from one side to the other of the “Goth’s bedroom” of a set. (He likes the chandeliers, though.) Such roaming is simply an expression of his seemingly unlimited energy; he is an explosion of movement and words. A stereotypical Glaswegian in that respect; you just wonder how he manages to remember to breathe.
Recognising—indeed, to an extent, revelling in—his own “weirdness”, Clarke does then take the unexpected step of assuming that at least some of the people who come to see him must be a bit weird themselves, and so indulges in a bit of audience participation with a survey that—again, on the night of this review—resulted in material he insisted he couldn’t really top. Except, of course, he did; though one does wonder if it might be worth him paying the people concerned to turn up most nights, just in case…
Clarke isn’t a “dangerous” comedian, unless you’re worried about losing bladder control from laughing too much. He’s a constant delight, though, and well worth catching if you can.
