There’s quite a display in the bar of the Rhino room of posters from Tom Gleeson’s shows and you can watch his hair receding in them. He laments his hair nicking off, at the beginning of his show. I was thinking that it may eventually become harder for him to do the bloodnut jokes too. Of course this show, Going at it with a Big Stick contained some red head gags, it was all based around his life, it’s what he does and he does it well.
Tom started casually with a few light jokes about performing, applause and his disappearing hair to settle the audience down, but up his sleeve he had several lovely long and often seriously hilarious tales to tell about himself and those dear to him. These included travelling to Tasmania, buying and learning to love a cute, little fluffy dog, growing up in a farming community dominated by redheads, getting a massage, and an email from his brother describing a night of drunken debauchery.
The central story of the show he describes as his favourite tale to tell, and I must say it is one of my favourites to hear. I may have heard it before, but I’m genuinely excited to hear him begin it. It is about his friends frightening their other friends on a camping trip and he throws all his energy into the telling of it. Tom bounced around the staged, he mimed, screamed and did sound effects. This might be why his final story felt like a bit of a let down. It too was a long story about wayward boys being naughty, but Tom just read it straight from the email.
It’s hard for me to know if the show I saw is the one Tom does every night, or if he amuses himself by mixing it up a bit and telling different stories. That’s the good thing about a generic show title, it can be anything he wants. There was no real theme or through line for this show, the only thing connecting his stories was himself. That’s OK, he’s a really entertaining guy to spend an hour with.
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