image not mine

90’s TV funny man Dom Joly made an art form out of exaggerating and eviscerating modern culture in a nu-candid camera style of programme. At a sold-out Customs House in South Shields, he turned his intelligent eye to a more recent aspect of modern society; conspiracy theories.

Part stand-up, part Q&A, and part travelogue, The Trigger Happy Man showcased his trademark intelligence by drawing a thread through the weirder side of what people believe. A self-confessed ‘outsider’, he gazed his sympathetic eye on everything from the folk who believe Finland is a mythical country to the QAnon crazies believing Hilary Clinton drinks the blood of children.

Ploughing the fertile ground effectively, Joly’s humour was created through his ability to build a natural rapport with the audience – particularly when ‘bantering’ with the crowd.

A natural entertainer, Joly seemed to revel in sharing funny stories about his old school mate Osama Bin Laden and telling the audience what he thought of Elon Musk.

A drawn out, overly complex ending, perhaps left the taste that the show was entertaining, slightly confused, yet very funny in places. Which can be said about most conspiracy theories.  Maybe the joke was on us more than for us.