There’s a reason the sketch group Pappy’s have been so popular and that’s because they ooze instant fun. The same can be said for the debut solo show of Tom Parry, one of its number. In Yellow T-Shirt his opening gambit is so supremely daft and original that his audience is immediately with him, and stays that way throughout a joyously silly hour.
Parry has been a writer-performer (and director of other comics’ shows) for long enough to understand structure, novelty and climax completely. Here he hides them all in plain sight, revealing early in the show exactly how many jokes there are, how many ideas, and what we’re all to do at the end. He’s shamelessly manipulating us, yet it’s a pleasure to go along with it, as he blasts his way between anecdotes, nutty one-liners, analysis of odd phrases including “chirpsing” and an impression of Kelly Jones from the Stereophonics.
Ostensibly his show is about the power of fancy dress, of which Parry is an outright fan, but really it’s simply about mucking about and being creative. He shows us just enough of himself, profiling his personality by recalling the fancy-dress parties he’s attended. A case in point being a do at Cambridge University, where he had spectacularly failed to pass an entrance interview and later spectacularly failed to fit in to a friend’s 1921 theme: his fellow party-goers were immaculately turned out while he showcased his love of a curveball idea and an intricately customised sheet.
So, what we can read from Parry’s fancy dress is that he sometimes does things a little oddly, but always with a winning exuberance and idiotic charm. The same can be said for his stand-up. I’m sure we’ll see a lot more solo work from him.
Box office: 0330 220 1212, to Aug 30