Gor Blimey

Comedian Dave Gorman is charming, attentive, focused, committed and more importantly elusive.

Because after speaking to him for half an hour I’m still none-the-wiser as to what his new stand-up show Dave Gorman’s Powerpoint Presentation is all about. We do know it’s good, the reviews speak for themselves, but it’s more a case of ‘if I tell you I’ll have to kill you’, than anything more existential.

“If I tell you what the jokes are they won’t be funny. And no one goes to see a stand-up because they like jokes about football or anything else. It’s all about how you tell a joke, not what it is, that makes people laugh,” he explains. “For example, if the joke is about apples and bananas even if I tell you about it now it won’t be funny unless you see it live and in context.” See what I mean?

In fact, the only clue he offers is that Dave Gorman’s Powerpoint Presentation isn’t about powerpoint presentations, so at least we can rule that out. “People think it’s going to be a parody of a business presentation, but I’ve never worked in an office,” Dave says.

Short of doing a Paxman on him and asking the same question 15 times, I decide to abandon the content question and talk to him about something else. Because Dave Gorman on stage is a new metamorphosis. He used to be a man of ideas; hairbrained and hilarious ideas, but ideas nonetheless. He was put off touring by a three year 400-date US tour which ended in 2006, hung up his stage boots, and actioned his wish-list instead. So his TV documentary about driving around America without using any retail chains, whether it be McDonalds or Shell, was put into action in America Unchained.

Or maybe you saw the one where he lived by his horoscope for 40 days and 40 nights which nearly bankrupted him in the process, or the series where he travelled around the world to meet as many other Dave Gormans as possible.

Then came Sit Down, Pedal, Pedal, Stop and Stand Up in 2009, which saw Dave cycling between gigs and eased him back into stand-up again. “If it wasn’t for that tour I wouldn’t be here now. It reminded me how much fun comedy can be,” he says.

Now that Dave’s a married man though, his hair-brained schemes seem to have been put on hold, presumably because coming home to his wife is preferable to cycling from Glasgow to Edinburgh between shows.

“Well I had the time then. Curiosity is a normal and natural state of being but most people have a 9-5 job, a BMW in the drive and kids to take to school, which is what inhibits their curiosity, and I didn’t.

“So of course it’s more tempting now to go home at night, as it should be, but that doesn’t mean I have less to talk about,” the 40 year-old says slightly defensively. “But judge for yourself. I think this is the best live show I’ve done and it’s all stuff that’s happened while I’ve been married. Although when the audience in America heard I was married, they all cheered in a chat show sort of way, which was worrying,” he laughs. “So if I have any more hair-brained schemes, this time I’ll just ask the wife along too.”

Not that he seems to miss them. “Hand on my heart, I’m having a lovely time. This a funny show to do because while you know what’s about to happen, it’s a delightful feeling knowing that in a minute the audience will all be falling over themselves laughing – it’s like giving someone a present every night.

“Being on stage is the most fun I can have and I can’t wait to get out there. But I don’t know how to get nervous. My friend came to the Nottingham gig and we were playing darts 15 minutes before the show in my dressing room and he said ‘shouldn’t you be getting nervous about now?’ And then Dave turns to me and with a glint in his eye says: “And anyway, you don’t really want to know what to expect do you? Wouldn’t you rather be kept on your toes?”

In that respect Dave Gorman will never disappoint.

* Dave Gorman’s new live show, Dave Gorman’s Powerpoint Presentation is coming to the New Theatre on Tuesday. Call the box office on 0844 847 1585.