Us Aussies do love us some deliciously ironic Scottish humour from wicked storyteller Danny Bhoy. The Scottish-Indian comedian is back for his eighth Australian tour with Please Untick This Box, an assortment of tales that poke fun at and nudge questions about daily life and our funny little habits. The show seems to be aimed at the increasing presence of marketing and advertising in our society, but in the end comes off as little more than a series of observational anecdotes from a master talker.
Bhoy has a very quiet sense of humour. Not in the sense that his microphone has to be amped right up, but quiet as in subtle, generally restrained. He slings wit and irony around like an Olympic table tennis player, except with a relaxed air that would border on nonchalant were his stories not so acute and insightful.
Unlike some celebrities and comedians, he appears to live in a world very similar to ours, and is the ultimate of charmers you can relate to. Danny Bhoy’s brand of obversational humour is ensconced in the real world, with a non-bitter (for the most part) ironic twist. He’s seemingly a normal man; he struggles just as much with going to church as the next guy, but he’s also not violently anti-religious by any means. This is to say that he’s just generally a cool man with a profound respect for other people’s experiences. You know, he’s easy.
While the man can seemingly slide into all manner of uncomfortable territory without raising a single hair on any necks, Bhoy doesn’t push his powers to their full limits in this particular outing. He likes to prod at things, and covers the Iron Throne of leadership in Australia, the rise of Trump in the USA election, and some meagre British response to the Scottish referendum, in an intelligent, confident but thin manner.
All that aside, Bhoy is not a political comedian, per se, so perhaps an expectation for greatness of that type is too harsh. Or beside the point. The stories that he journeys us through, in his meandering yet rich way, are compelling and thought-provoking. Danny Bhoy remains one of the funniest forces in the free-speaking world, and though Please Untick This Box is not quite brilliant on a thematic or structural level, his wise and affable manner will sweep you off your cotton socks.