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Of all Ricky Gervais’ talents that range from sitcom writer, film actor, and children’s author, his stand-up is comfortably his most adult and polarising.

Those who love the soft, cuddly Gervais should definitely think twice before entering his stand-up arena. His TV and film career has brilliantly intermingled clever concepts and characters with a warm-heart. His stand-up does the same, but with a brutal sense of reality that has the tongue in the cheek…but not enough to stop make you twinging with discomfort. Tonight’s show at the Colston Hall sold out in one day, a testament to his draw as a live performer.

After Canadian comedian Stewart Francis delivers a support act that consists of practically 100 liners in his 20-minute time slot, you are practically gagging for an elongated Gervais anecdote by the end of Francis’ quick laugh fest.

He starts tonight’s proceedings by declaring himself a “living legend” and that this show is in fact a “warm-up for his London show”, which was in turn “a warm-up for his Madison Square Garden show”. The arrogance is playful, but contains a modicum of truthful discourse.

The theme of Gervais’ show is Science, following on from previous stand-up tours - Animals, Politics and Fame. The best thing about his show is how little science appears and actually how little you care. Gervais’ consistently parodies a Daily Mail journalist throughout the entire show taking offence at every un-PC term and mimicking his own show that contains little or nothing in the way of science. His career is at such a revered point; he shouldn’t and doesn’t seem to care about reviews.
Themes in tonight’s show are varied and in places brutal. From creating a fat door in supermarkets so overweight people can’t get to the cake section, to being visually disturbed by an overweight woman masturbating at a Ken Dodd show, Gervais doesn’t exactly hold back.

In one bit of vaguely scientific material, he verbally dissects the logistics of Noah cramming 10 million different species onto the Ark and also the possibility that Noah and God were engaged in some kind of homosexual relation at the time of the great flood. Much like his previous over-analysis of nursery rhymes in his Politics show, it’s really amusing. After looking at the Noah book in great depth, he announced that he would be buying another book in the series for similar analysis entitled Jesus and the Cripple’.

Biggest laugh of the night goes to his over the top impression of autograph hunters who in his opinion “have BO like nothing he has ever smelt before” (see photo). He describes a scenario by which if they hear you are at the BBC, or another obvious landmark in London, they get down there quickly and congregate outside. “They are worse than train spotters”, he says with annoyance.

Luring you into a false sense of security in another one of Gervais’ traits. The final joke of the night is a story about when he thought he’d seen a girl who he identified as a missing person after seeing her face on the side of a milk carton. The story was brought to an abrupt end when Gervais says he says it couldn’t have been her “because it mentioned on the milk carton her mother said she was always smiling and when I saw her she looked really upset, so it couldn’t have been her.” The crowd should have known better.

Showcasing his full array of mannerisms and everything you liked about the other stand-up series, Science isn’t really Gervais breaking any ground, but he is truly one of the most original performers this country has produced in recent years. The laughs are consistent and full.

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