After infamously managing to offend students at the University of Lincoln on “The Inbetweeners”, comedian Greg Davies came to the LPAC on Tuesday the 23rd to try and make amends with his stand up show “Firing Cheese Balls at a Dog”.
As the crowd settled into their seats, many of whom were wearing the novelty “University of Lincoln” shirts, it was clear the audience were looking forward to hearing Davies’ defence. However, they were first greeted by young comic Ed Gamble. While much of the audience were initially cold to Gamble’s unexpected presence, after only a few minutes the rising star had found his stride.
Demonstrating a well-deserved confidence in his set as well as fantastic talent, Gamble succeeded in winning over the crowd with tales of diabetes and even fruit flavoured, yet sexually devious, anagrams. From the reaction he was able to get from an initially uninterested audience, coupled with a recent fantastic appearance on “Russell Howard’s Good News”, it’s clear that the future is bright for Ed Gamble.
Any ill will Lincoln’s students had for Greg Davies vanished the second he set foot on stage. The towering stand up had chosen to wear a t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “I heart Lincoln”, too small to conceal what he described as “The Beast”.
Kicking off his show with a formal apology for the comments made on “The Inbetweeners” about Lincoln, Davies then launched into a truly hilarious set based around times in his life where he had become caught up in the moment. This included a sexually deviant family pet, the crushing depression of being a teacher, and as the shows title suggests, firing cheese balls at a dog using a catapult.
Throwing his 6′ 8″ frame around the LPAC, Davies performed his set in a brilliant style. He fended off the only heckler of the night with the simply awesome and menacing response “I used to be a teacher for thirteen years; I don’t like people shouting out. If you shout out again, you’re going to find out why I’m not a fucking teacher anymore”.
Davies’ wacky yet still believable comedy tickled every funny bone in the crowd that night. Every anecdote put forth by the hulking comedian was met with a brilliant response displaying how well-oiled the show had become over the extensive tour.
The moment of pure comedy magic however occurred after Davies’ had ended his set. During the question and answer session before he left the stage Davies called up “The Inbetweeners” writer Iain Morris and instructed the Lincoln crowd to chant insults before hanging up, well and truly getting himself off the hook and ending a magnificent show.