REVIEW - Ivo Graham: Grand Design at York Theatre Royal

NOT many comedy shows start with a quiz about York - but then not many comics are in the mould of Ivo Graham.

The 34-year-old comedian - a regular on TV including Taskmaster - is perhaps best known for being the posh boy of the comedy circuit on account that he went to Eton.

Comedy fans may have seen him in York before because he has supported Josh Widdicombe twice on tour with dates at York Barbican in 2016 and 2019. As if to show a local connection, in the pre-show slide show - which included photos of Judi Dench - one photo shows Graham outside the Minster in 2016.

One of the biggest laughs of the night at an almost sold-out York Theatre Royal is when he, with eyes lowered and in a faux-tragic voice, laments that lots of his old school chums all suddenly lost their jobs on the same night this summer.

Ivo Graham

There's a gentle charm to Graham's comedy - all the funnier when he suddenly says something rude or un-PC; you quickly check yourself to ask: 'Did he really say that?'.

When he is telling us that his mum - who has MS - may have done something in a previous life to deserve a disability, and that he and his five-year-old daughter viciously troll online Taylor Swift detractors, you know the tongue is firmly in cheek (just slightly pushing his silver spoon out of the way).

And it is utterly gentlemanly that he shares the stage with Alex Kealy - fellow funnyman and real-life best friend.

Alex Kealy

Graham is so well-mannered that he opens the show for Kealy - who then entertains with a fine 20-minute set where he kicks into Brexit, the US election and how rubbish Brussels is.

It's only when Graham returns after the interval for his turn that we realise that Kealy is a fellow Etonian. Kealy never mentions this in his routine, so Graham mischievously throws him under the proverbial bus (or should it be gold-plated carriage) when he says he's known Kealy "since we went to school - I've known him since from aged 13".

Graham is assisted for the evening by a set of slides (all the more amusing for their simplicity; no polished Powerpoint presentation here).

They give the show a structure and the audience a focus, and he weaves them skilfully into his material as he takes us on a journey all about his love of football (Swindon Town/England); date nights with his dad; spending time with his five-year-old daughter and his hapless efforts at being Kealy's best man.

Off stage, the duo have a podcast about their love of live music called Gig Pigs - I'm going to tune in; if their stand up is anything to go by, it should be a good laugh.