There are shaggy dog stories, then there’s the centrepiece anecdote of Mo Gilligan’s touring show, which narrates more or less in real time a recent glitzy night out on the Hollywood tiles. It’s quite the gambit for a standup known for his boy-next-door approachability to dedicate half an hour to this tale of red-carpet excess. Happy to say, Gilligan pulls it off with humility intact; his modesty, indeed, is the joke. Less happy to say, the story, which finds Mo and his London “mandem” given the VIP treatment in an LA nightclub, isn’t remarkable or variegated enough to justify its excessive length.
I began to think that routine might constitute the whole show. But it doesn’t. There’s a fun opening number about black Britons on holiday. Later, the 37-year-old ranges across singledom and coupledom, drawing him into territory he has always effortlessly commanded – where boys do this and girls do that, on the dancefloor, in front of the telly, in the bedroom. “Men, we’re not good at apologising.” Women always know where the remote control is. Is any of it true? Gilligan is so skilled at bringing these everyday scenarios to life, so gifted at animating the telling detail, we’re happy to indulge a generalisation or three.
It’s all done so big-heartedly, too. No one is mean or malign in Mo-world; we’re all making lovable fools of ourselves, trying to get by. See Gilligan’s pals, suddenly “becoming architects”, feigning an interest in the fixtures and fittings when the drinks bill needs to be paid. Or his thirtysomething Lothario, too arthritic for fingering. Or his generic Everyboyfriend, furtively clicking “Next episode” while spooning his snoozing sweetheart on the sofa.
One of the flaws of that show-hogging central anecdote is that it trails a punchline (who has Gilligan been mistaken for?) that never arrives. I guess we have to accept he really is that big a deal now. This latest show isn’t perfect, but it proves he has not lost what makes him special, a gold-plated relatability – where the common touch meets the Midas touch – underpinned by standup craftsmanship as effortless as it is meticulous.
• At Plymouth Pavilions on 3 April. Then touring until 31 May
