The sell-out crowd went wild for Lee Mack’s “homecoming” gig (a few miles down the road from his hometown, Southport) at the Liverpool Empire last night, as he nears the end of 50+ date “Going Out” UK tour.
A sterling warm up set was provided by Simon Evans, who co-writes Mack’s BBC sitcom Not Going Out. Evans’ stiff upper lip style of delivery was entertaining in itself, mixing light hearted self-deprecation with a test of our inner prejudices against the likes of The Welsh and McDonalds. Evans served up 20 minutes of clearly carefully thought out, amusing material. But he, and everyone else, knew the audience were waiting for just one man to arrive on stage.
Glancing round the vast age range in the auditorium, it is clear Mack has built a huge following through TV appearances on panel shows such as Have I Got News For You, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Would I Lie To You?
In Liverpool for one night only, Lee seemed determined to make the most of it, clearly relishing playing to scousers. He berated various members of the audiences’ “scally” accents, including an hilarious routine comparing the scouse accent to a dolphin, leading Lee to end up doubled over, almost choking on a series of guttural “clicks”.
His relatively clean-cut TV persona was thrown out of the window with a barrage of swear words, displaying a schoolboy delight in sharing what the “c” word is in sign language, along with a playful exploration of an easily confused mime for “juggling.”
But Mack isn’t overtly offensive. He’s an odd combination of a classic 70s gag man and modern day cheeky foul-mouthed stand-up, which is, of course, why he gets away with it.
His material peaks and troughs, whipping the crowd into a frenzy of mirth before, just as quickly, dropping the ball. But it doesn’t matter, it gives the audience chance to take a breath and soak in the next gag. As Mack puts it, his act is 'like a Chinese tailor, not the best quality but you have to admire the speed'.
Pacing the stage, Lee’s energy shows no sign of waning throughout, moving almost as quickly as his material which doesn’t allow you to dwell on missed punchlines for too long. Mack seems to want it this way, hungry for the next rush of laughter induced by his wit, he is genuinely frustrated if the audience doesn’t react quickly enough.
Forgive the cliché, but, for several moments, I was literally left clutching my sides by the relentless onslaught of cunning one-liners fuelled by Mack’s unique take on the world. It is near impossible to recount all the highlights. Gratifying puns concerning disabling a gingerbread man and Michael Jackson’s "Wikipedia page”, along with how technology has desensitised us to sick porn, were particularly memorable.
But the true joy of the evening emerged during the encore. Spontaneous audience participation allowed Lee to exercise his affinity for scousers with glorious results. God Bless the Wirral girl studying I.T, who has probably since disowned her ‘angelic voiced’ friend for sharing her namesake, Demi Moore, with the entire room.
As and when Lee returns to the North West, do your funny bone a favour and book a ticket.
9/10
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Johnno, Wirral around 2 years, 2 months ago