Davey Connor is a charming, unimposing performer whose style washes over the audience and wins them over seemingly without effort. And his new show Davey Connor Live! But Not in Your Living Room is a finely tuned, well thought out and very funny set.
His persona as the unstoppable underdog is endearing and thankfully devoid of self-pity; considering the fact that Connor’s set traces his life from acne-ridden teenager to the thrown-out-of-home divorcee, this is most certainly a triumph. His intriguing structure begins with the indulgent male fantasy of how to survive in a post-apocalyptic world of carnage and from here on we dovetail into all sorts of delightful, unexpected avenues; divorce, sleeping rough in Glasgow and the possibility of fighting a man whose job it is to deliver your fridge.
One sequence, involving blown up pictures of Connor from a photo shoot that went horribly wrong and also went national, is particularly funny. Ragged and smelling of the gutter (you can tell this just from looking at the photos) Connor was sold as a James Bond lookalike for a charity campaign, yet he looks like he’s just been pulled through a sewer only to have a tuxedo thrown in his general direction. This particular bit is something of a master class in self-mocking.
It is however let down by an ending that while purporting to tie all Connor’s narrative threads together does so in a cavalier and not quite coherent manner. Merely being able to include the title of a show at the very end of that show does not constitute a satisfying denouement.
With very few misfires, this is an entertaining hour. Conner is droll and dry yet sympathetic enough for us to feel that something extra is going on.
