HE’S the man with 52 namesakes and knows that modern life is, well, goodish. He’s also a dab hand with technology and, more than anything else, he enjoys taking the mundane and making it extraordinary.
Dave Gorman, for those that know, needs little introduction. For those that don’t, well, he’s a comic who prepares the most amazing PowerPoint presentations you’ll ever see. No boring graphs, or ‘whoops, how did that get there’ photos snuck in. Dave’s the real deal. A ninja master at the keyboard. A Yoda.
And he’s also charmingly funny.
Stafford-born Dave has come a long way since he wrote a book detailing his quest to find those 52 namesakes. He made five series of Modern Life Is Goodish, and is just about to launch a new show, Terms And Conditions Apply on Dave.
He’s also on tour with his latest show, With Great Powerpoint Comes Great Responsibilitypoint. The show comes to The Hexagon on Wednesday, October 30, and Dave can’t wait to return to a venue he’s brought his latop and projector to many times before.
“It’s a joy to come back to a venue where they want you to come back,” he says. “It’s the nicest feeling in the world.
“People [in the audiences] are there because they want to be there. It’s a very gratifying experience.”
Dave, who always wears checked shirts when performing, is many things, but he’s modest and charming. His great skill is in taking the mundane and turning it into the spectacular. During his Goodish show, he’d do simple things such as take comments from readers of websites and turn them into what he called ‘found poems’. The streams of consciousness became hilarious when juxtaposed together.
For another show, he bought a pack of combs from his local shop and then sold them on eBay. Nothing remarkable in that, but with the magic that Dave weaved – and with the help of some PowerPoint slides – it became comedy gold.
“That is a good example of what PowerPoint can do,” he says. “Without the images, the audiences would think you’re making that up. It’s proof that these things are real.”
This is a central part of Dave’s act, helping people make leaps of logic in their head by “showing images and texts and whatever”. Without it, he feels they’d worry he was making it all up, when he’s not.
“I love what I do,” he adds. “A really good description I think is when I was a kid, I’d nailed getting my mum’s birthday present, thinking she’ll be thrilled, I’ve got it out of the park.
“On her birthday, they would be all the gifts around her and I’d be thinking, ‘open mine, open mine…’ it’s the best, I’ve wrapped it for you…
“I get to unwrap 100 presents a night [for the audience] and it’s very satisfying.”
Terms and Conditions Apply is a new departure for Dave, and it launches on Monday, on the channel called Dave. In it, he is joined by three comedy guests where they will look at some of the new discoveries, play games and try to unscramble the baffling morass of non-stop information that surrounds us in the internet age.
“It’s been a joy to make,” he says. “I’ve made so much stuff that’s been just me, I’ve forgotten what it’s like to do programmes like this. It’s just fun.
“We play silly games and it goes to places we’d never think about going to. I hope others like it, it’s been a joy to do.”
Part of the UK’s comedy scene for more than 20 years, Dave Gorman has grown up: meeting his wife and domestic life together formed part of Goodish (including a routine over a hat worn while going to the toilet), now he’s a Dad. Has touring changed for him as a result?
“When I was doing Goodish, I was working 100 hours a week, two weeks before a show I’d go two or three days without sleeping, genuinely,” he admits. “I spent more time at home when I’m touring than when I was on Goodish.”
But he also says that while his new schedule means he doesn’t have to be away from home as much, “I won’t complain about my job, I love what I do.”
Dave Gorman is unfailingly nice. Even when he’s talking about ridiculous things. And when he’s at the Hexagon with his laptop, clicker and PowerPoint, he promises to take you along with him.
“For two and a bit hours, you can sit back and not be troubled by anything. Just leave your troubles at the door.”
He adds that sitting at home watching comedy is not the same as being in a theatre, laughing with hundreds of others.
“There’s something lovely about losing yourself in a show.”
We’ll click to that.
Dave Gorman’s With Great PowerPoint Comes Great ResponsibilityPoint is at The Hexagon in Reading on Wednesday, October 30 at 8pm Tickets cost £29.50. For more details or to book call the box office on 0118 960 6060 or log on to www.readingarts.com
