Ivo Graham In York

We are not seasoned comedy enthusiasts so we were intrigued to see this show at York Theatre Royal; could one man keep a near-capacity audience entertained for a whole evening (with a little 15 minutes of help from his old schoolmate Alex Kealy)? The answer is….we are undecided.

Before the show began, the audience are shown a series of York-related slides including a quiz to win free interval drinks and various photos of Dame Judi Dench and Graham himself on previous visits to the city. This was a novel idea and kept people amused whilst they waited.

The show takes time to warm up. There was some banter with members of the audience in the stalls but the first part of the show is mainly jokes involving Graham and his phone- messages and emails. This maybe goes on a little too long. The funniest moments of the first half were when Graham, a self-confessed ‘posh boy’, told tales of his life at Eton with his equally posh friends.

Kealy takes over and gains laughs on topics such as the US election and Brexit. Nothing made us really belly laugh but it was short and sweet and definitely better in parts. The second half was far funnier and we were kept entertained throughout. Graham’s real-life stories about the joys of being a best man and his passion for football (specifically his beloved Swindon) were told with the added visuals on the big screen. This made the act much funnier…we chuckled everytime he went a little close to the bone and wrote up ‘sorry’ to his Auntie who was in the audience.

So did Graham entertain and please his crowd? The second half made up for the slightly lond-winded jokes in the first half for sure. There were many laughs from the crowd and we encountered satisfied people en route back to the car park. Guess that means it was a yes!