Most people will know Paddy McGuinness from two specific places – either his somehow hugely popular Saturday night ITV dating show Take Me Out, or his earlier comedy works like Phoenix Nights.
This latest tour, titled Daddy McGuinness is Paddy’s take on fatherhood, encompassing many of the usual tropes of ‘new dad’ comedy, like smelly nappies, lack of sex and getting urinated on.
Grand Opera House, York
Sat Mar 7, 2016
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The first half of the show at York’s lovely Grand Opera House is very focused on fatherhood, and plays on McGuinness’ likeability heavily. Maybe I’m spoiled by seeing too much comedy, but it felt disjointed and more like a work in progress show than a full fledged theatre show.
The second half was even more disjointed, lacking any real theme.
@PaddyMcGuinness #DaddyMcGuinness Great night in York pic.twitter.com/F7fDrF0xg9
— Heather Stewart (@heatherlstewart) March 5, 2016
Laughed a lot
McGuinness is a funny man, but this tour feels predicated on a random stream of things he found funny, without giving them a coherence, which the show needed.
I was reminded of the couple of famous Peter Kay routines; it was all a bit “Do you remember the A-Team?”.
All this is not to say I didn’t enjoy the show, I did, and my wife and I laughed a lot throughout, but it will hardly go down as a classic stand up show.
There were a few too many Take Me Out gags, and it veered into toilet humour an awful lot, but as an unchallenging hour or so of comedy (I was at home by 9.30pm), it was funny enough.
Thank you York!!! Lovely theatre, cracking audience. ???????? #DaddyMcGuinness live! pic.twitter.com/H0SJ7DSTc6
— Paddy McGuinness (@PaddyMcGuinness) March 5, 2016
Comedy from the mainstream
I feel like a bit of a comedy snob saying negative things because I did enjoy it. But there was no story, no links, no segues.
Every joke seemed to have just popped into his head, and only the appearance of predetermined slides on a big screen behind him suggested that much prior thought had been put into it.
If you like Take Me Out and the type of mainstream stand up presented by Kay, McIntyre and the like then this is probably a show for you – although be warned, it was very rude.
If you like your comedy a little more sophisticated, maybe spend your £30 going to a local comedy club a couple of times and try something a bit different.