THE age range in the Barbican shows the broad appeal of Greg Davies as devotees of The Inbetweeners, Taskmaster and Man Down filled every seat on Wednesday (and Thursday too).

The auditorium was bemused by the uncomfortable walk-on music, Ignition by fellow 49-year old RKelly, as the ex-teacher thanked the “wonderful sea of middle-aged losers” in “this awful sports hall”.

From anyone else this could have had the crowd baying for blood but Davies’s wit is always set to stun not kill: self-deprecating, disarming and likeable. The show should have been offensive as it regularly skipped across the limits of taste but somehow it wasn’t!

Accompanied by a homemade slideshow, Davies told numerous tales about his mother, often without her permission or blessing, and featured Oscar Pistorious, Chris Eubank and an alternative function for Lenor bottles. At one point, he even played all members of Norwegian pop group a-ha that reduced him and the audience to tears.

It sounds like chaos but somehow made for a seamless, intimate performance. This isn’t stand-up material; it’s not observational comedy, either; this is pure story-telling from a man with funny bones but there is so much more to him than a facial contortionist, as he showed his softer side with a heartwarming tribute to his late father with a musical twist.

Stand-up comics are ten-a-penny these days, many riding the gravy train after just one appearance on Live At The Apollo, but Davies stands head and shoulders above his peers as a warm, endearing, honest, hilarious story teller.