Review: Stephen Merchant’s tall stories

Wednesday 19th October 2011, 9:39AM BST.

Stephen Merchant: “Hello Ladies…”

Birmingham Symphony Hall

Stephen Merchant is the co-writer of The Office and Extras who isn’t Ricky Gervais.

But now he’s following his vastly more famous partner with his own stand-up show.

Why? “I don’t have to share the cash with you know who,” he explains at the start of his set.

But he’s not here just for the dosh. No, Merchant’s ‘Hello Ladies’ tour is about his search for a wife.

He says he thought he’d be fighting off eligible women after becoming famous, but that’s not been the case.

And over the course of an hour he lists his experiences as a man who stands six feet, seven inches tall, in a world where most women are around five feet, four inches. And he does so in detail that we cannot possibly go into here.

And yet, although his material can be very, very rude, he somehow delivers it without being particularly crude. He’s just very, very funny, and in complete command of the huge Symphony Hall.

Merchant is particularly good when it comes to the rules of the dating game.

Is it stingy, he asks, to smuggle into the cinema popcorn you’ve bought at a supermarket? One date told him it was, but Merchant replied that it cost more than three pounds in the foyer. “And I only charged her two for it.”

Stephen Merchant’s tour brings him to the Wolverhampton Civic Hall on November 5. Don’t miss him, ladies.

By Andrew Owen

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