There is a very serious man on stage. Chris Mayo is a stand-up, but he’s also an actor, so he takes on the roles he plays with a sober and dogged determination to make it big against all odds.
From his early days as a king in his school’s nativity play to more recent times when he stripped off for a car magazine, he is unwavering in his fortitude and self-belief that every job - no matter how small - will ‘lead on to big things’.
After raiding his family photo album and with the aid of an overhead projector, Mayo guides us through all the identities he’s had, from the sweet four-and-a-half year-old boy and all his early years dressing up as various characters to an embarrassing school photo as a teenager.We then see evidence of his inroads into the showbusiness world in what is quite the Dave Gorman school of stand up – storytelling sprinkled with with mellow humour punctuated every now and again with a dark interrobang.
The audience is involved at every stage so it’s more like a family gathering than a comedy gig. When his tale culminates this means he can count on a couple of those in the seats to join him onstage to reenact a particularly embarrassing audition which does have you wondering if he’s really trying to exorcise his demons.
If you close your eyes, he sounds like Jimmy Carr. So work as his vocal double could be a lucrative sideline in between auditions such as this- Mayo’s acting career has largely involved him being offered up by his agent for roles requiring a ‘unique looking boy’.
Towards the end of his set, however, he offers up a glimmer of hope to all those with aspirations when he lands his biggest job to date – on telly. Perhaps the key message of this is perseverance.
Keep going lad.
