Live

Greg Davies, Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog Tour

Joe Coyle 22/01/2011

Rating: 4/5

Nominated for best show at the 2011 Chortle comedy awards and the 2010 Foster's Edinburgh Comedy awards. Member of the award winning 'We are Klang' and cast member of the multi award winning TV show 'The Inbetweeners'. The expectations are high for Greg Davies' new solo show 'Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog'.

Arriving on stage to the sounds of Skee lo's 'I wish I was a little bit taller' the 6 foot 8 comedy giant Greg Davies hits the stage to regale us with meaningless tales of silliness.

After a near death experience on holiday in the Andalusian mountains with his friend and 'We are Klang' collaborator Marek Larwood, Greg spent the most of that day and the following day waiting for an epiphany which didn't arrive. After an impromptu shopping trip in which the only purchases were a family size bag of cheeseballs and a catapult, they had a chance meeting with a dog halfway up a mountain. The epiphany had finally arrived. Whilst firing cheeseballs at the dog, Greg decided to celebrate the meaningless of life and try to worry less.

Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog is a show sprung from the moments in life that you lose yourself in, where you are living for that moment and nothing else. Revelling in the bizarre, Greg weaves tales full of silly imagery with his compellingly playful performance.

Greg takes us through his life in easy bite size pieces, from infancy right through to today. His university days are dispatched with just three words on the flip chart 'Drunk. Pathetic. Single'.

Greg describes becoming a teacher as 'the worst decision I have ever made' and continues to charm us with stories of his class who he describes as the strangest bunch of people in the same place at the same time. He charts his teaching career melancholy with touching humour. Greg recounts one student who claimed to want to be either a train driver or a gynaecologist. When asked why the student replied ' At the end of the day I suppose I just like tunnels' . Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog is filled with a plethora of easily digestible nuggets of hilarity.

For what is essentially an episodic show, the material flows effortlessly thanks to Greg's likeability. Taking the audience on a journey through his life with the help of a flip chart and a book of pithy tales which he hands to a member of the audience and frequently dips into throughout the performance to break up the narrative. Whilst tonight's show isn't up to the highlights of previous nights on the tour. Greg Davies never remains anything less than a compelling presence on the stage, candidly open, always engaging. Definitely a solo star for the future. Highly recommended.