Review for Alan Davies - Life is Pain

Alan Davies is one of the best stand ups that Britain has ever produced, but when you actually try and find evidence of this it is difficult. Rabid fans will know of his early performances and of course the amazing Urban Trauma show. After that, Davies seemed to have been caught in the acting, panel show gig not performing stand up for over a decade. That is not to say this is a bad thing as his performance as Jonathan Creek was always amazing and on QI I can't imagine any other person to work opposite Stephen Fry. Life is Pain is his first recorded show in a long while and anyone who doubted how great he is as a stand-up will be quelled.

His targets range from late and incredibly tall audience members, the euphemism 'a friend of mine', the Essex Buddhist mantra which is literally, seriously,basically, possibly the most 'ly' words I had ever heard, possibly. Of course he talks about gowing up, his childhood, problems with uniforms and the unfortunate named shop 'Shatins'.

Other targets include Facebook, his inability to get off the thing and why people poke each other anyway? And whether we actually talk in pubs when we have 'touching stones' with statuses to update. You'll also never be able to watch pornography ever again following his description of what happens 'It looks like a murder. I'll have to call the police soon!'

What is nice about about watching this show is the lack of gimmick to Davies' act. Unlike some who have huge sets, who change characters or sing songs, this is almost back to basic stand up comedy that I had grown up on with the likes of Billy Connolly and Eddie Izzard. At only an hour it's a nice short set of material with some genuine bellylaughs as well as the usual moments of sheer genius that I would expect from him.

Extras include a few extra moments which I can't tell if they were from the same show (I will presume not because otherwise why not just include it?), these are just some nice banter with some curly people in the front row and problems with cruise missiles. An interview with Alan is short, but nice talking about his preparation for the new material which is interesting.

Life is Pain is a great stand up show and certainly one that I would recommend to fans of Alan Davies or of stand up comedy in general. I just hope that we don't have to wait another ten years for the next one.