Jack proves he really is the lad on stage

It’s safe to say that Jack Whitehall is one of the most familiar comedic faces on TV, with his appearances on A League of Their Own and the critically acclaimed Fresh Meat making him a household name at the tender age of 25.

So a stadium tour seems the obvious next step for someone who has been crowned the ‘King of Comedy’ for the last two years at the British Comedy Awards.

Having not seen Jack live before, it was immediately apparent that he was not going to disappoint, the unusual centrally positioned stage and screen rigging gave the feeling of someone who was going all out for this, his first arena tour.

And just as we were trying to figure out how Jack would get from backstage to his island, the screens around the arena kick in, introducing us to Jack with a hilarious parody about his ‘troubled’ upbringing.

The parody ends with Jack riding a Segway and that is how he enters the arena.

Having previously attended Manchester University, Jack quickly endears himself to the Manchester crowd, with some standard ice breaker jokes about the area and poking a little light fun at Liverpool, which eases him nicely into the gig. Jack’s observational style of comedy focuses mainly on his own life, and he sends himself up expertly throughout the gig, while at the same time drawing on his experiences from his childhood through to present day.

From start to finish, the gig had the production quality of a TV show, with quick cheeky glances from Jack, being caught in close-up on the many cameras, while regular video segments kept the show flowing.

Before we knew it, the first half was over, but the high production continued with the second half finishing to bursts of fireworks and a confetti explosion across the whole arena, which worked beautifully as a distraction for Jack to make his way off stage.

The second half began with Jack entering the arena dressed as a boxer, but this aggressive entrance didn’t set the tone for the second half. Generally Jack seemed much calmer, and instead of the polished high tempo delivery style from the first half, his performance felt a little more honest and thoughtful.

Apart from him forgetting his ‘big finale’ joke, I felt he grew into the gig as we went along. Jack Whitehall had everyone eating out of the palm of his hand.

Colin Ainscough