Stephen Merchant

Stephen Merchant's current stand-up tour, Hello Ladies, sees The Office co-creator stepping out from behind the shadow of his comedic partner in crime Ricky Gervais. But the only shadow cast here is that of the 6 ft. 7 inch Merchant and the be-spectacled funnyman is, to put it simply, downright hilarious on his own. Opener Felicity Ward's manic shtick never grated and plenty of belly laughs were provided with topics that were never afraid to go too far (hairy arseholes and cat's vaginas), a perfect intro to the headliner.

And what a brilliant hour-plus of comedy Stephen Merchant provided. Kicking off with a note about our ridiculous “sharky” waters, there was plenty of focus on Merchant's hunt for a wife through several unsuccessful dating encounters, oft due to his penchant for being rather “stingy” – saving by smuggling popcorn into the theatre, for instance. The show itself was pleasantly conversational, each anecdote flowing into the next smoothly, and he was never afraid to drift off onto a tangent – his rant against Venn Diagrams proving particularly hilarious, with a fantastic call back later in the show. Perhaps his (for now) slightly lesser star status makes him more approachable and/or relatable, but the show felt like catching up with a friend at the pub and simply listening to an extremely funny guy tell a bunch of extremely funny stories. Top notch.