You Magnificent Beast

Greg Davies spends much of his third solo show proving that a six-foot-eight former drama teacher is, despite his imposing stature, an absolute idiot. Filmed at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, the hour sees Davies leaning into the undignified realities of middle age, including a highly visual medical mishap, the accidental presentation of his own crotch photos to an elderly lady, and a dating story that somehow conjures the tension of the raptor kitchen scene in Jurassic Park. He performs with a booming, physical energy that makes his self-deprecation feel less like a plea for sympathy and more like a loud, joyful public confession.

Released on Netflix in 2018, You Magnificent Beast caught Davies at a high-water mark in his television career. He was already well-entrenched as the tyrannical authority figure of British comedy, a status cemented by his roles in The Inbetweeners and Taskmaster. This television pedigree only makes his eagerness to humiliate himself on stage all the more satisfying. Although his mother supposedly banned him from telling stories about her on this tour, Davies breaks the promise almost immediately. He gleefully recounts his late father’s elaborate lifetime pranks, including a childhood memory of learning a traditional Welsh song that he only recently discovered was actually about performing sex acts on farm animals.