Nick Doody Review

Nick Doody

Comedians often strut around the Fringe being offensive for the sake of it. Much of the time this provokes an audience reaction funnier than the actual joke, or simply grabs a headline. Thankfully Nick Doody understands this, and while much of his material touches on risky subjects, it is in an intelligent way and never degenerates into mere shock humour. The audience I sat with were a fairly diverse bunch anyway, providing a good litmus test for the appeal of Doody. Middle aged women, various foreigners, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters: all seemed quite willing to laugh at the Yorkshire man’s material. Doody explores a range of ideas from driving instructors, Yorkshire place names and performing in the piece of freight that is the Pleasance Beside ‘theatre.’ His Catholic upbringing in west Yorkshire and a Granny that used to terrify him with bedtime stories provides some excellent comic material, as does his description of English packs of males abroad. He also wades into global events, such as a teacher in Sudan calling a classroom Teddy Bear ‘Mohammad’ and the reaction that followed. As a result we have a comedian who can mix of self-deprecation with cutting observations. All this is topped by an intelligent and often wandering mind, which seems to stumble on new jokes while on stage. This is comedy with a very contemporary blend of sharp observations and risky humour, which manages to be massively entertaining.