There are three things essential to know about Gareth Richards before his show starts. Firstly, he is an introvert in a society of extroverts, secondly he’s never been to Disneyland and thirdly, he is a stand-up comedian. Got that? Great.
Most of Richards’ observational humour hits the nail on the head; his sketch about parties had us all nodding in agreement about what a silly concept they suddenly seem to be. Then he launched into banter with the audience. Suddenly this introvert was on the attack and the emergency exit seemed very far away. He was funny and we laughed. He even had a go at myself, highlighting my press lanyard peeking out of my pocket and, much as it stings, people on the way out were talking about how he ‘owned the critic in the second row.’
The space is intimate, making stories about his first masturbation suitably awkward and we cringed as he coyly revealed just what happened when Tigger’s tail fell off, aged thirteen.
Normally when a stand-up pulls out a musical instrument, there is a unanimous groan that this guy has run out of material. Not with Richards, whose omnichord, he told us, actually means omni (really) chord (awesome). And for some strange reason that I have yet to understand, it is.
The first couple of gags were shaky, leading us to believe that this was just another Edinburgh stand-up, but after five minutes Richards has settled into his rhythm and gives a good show worth seeing.
