You Magnificent Beast
Netflix · 2018 · 66 min
A towering British comic humiliates himself for an hour.
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.
The set list
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Writing Stand-Up Methodology and Mother's Blushes
Davies explains his system of visiting Shropshire to write down weird things his parents say, then violates his mother's plea for privacy by repeating her bizarre statements.
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Blue Ted
Recalling a five-foot handmade teddy bear sewn by his mother and his questionable adolescent interactions with it.
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Manscaping Disasters and Middle-Aged Decrepitude
Luridly recounting bodily failings at age 49, including an ill-fated pubic hair grooming effort and a cancer scare with vivid references to ET and a Lenor bottle.
-
Former Teaching Career
Reflecting on why he was unsuited to be a school teacher, including flicking Blu Tack at pupils and executing an infantile Chris Eubank impression.
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Musical Tribute to Late Father
A touching yet hilariously crude tribute reflecting on his father's final days in a hospice, culminating in Davies singing a song his father taught him accompanied by a pile-up of comic payoffs.
How it plays
- Tone
- Raunchy, blue, juvenile, self-deprecating, and unexpectedly touching.
- On stage
- An imposing 6ft 8in 'dirty boy' and delinquent, acting as an overgrown child sharing outrageous, shameful, and perverted transgressions.
- Pace
- Exuberant, blunt, and highly physical, balancing rapid silly outbursts and theatrical indignation with comedic pay-offs.
- About
- Perceptions of self and how others perceive us, Aging, bodily decay, and approaching 50, Eccentricity of parents, Grief, mortality, and the memory of his late father
What the critics said
Praised as a triumph of delinquent, silly, and filthy storytelling that successfully subverts inspirational platitudes and lands an emotionally resonant, hilarious tribute to his father.
In the room: Rapturous reception in a packed 4,000-seat theater, with audience members warned upfront to expect far raunchier fare than his family-friendly television roles.
Backstory
Davies's father, Bob Davies—historically the primary source and muse for his stand-up material—passed away three years prior, and his mother requested that he no longer talk about her on stage.
Details
- Released
- Taped
- 2017, Hammersmith Apollo, London
- Runtime
- 66 min
- Where
- Netflix
- Director
- Peter Orton
- Honors
- 2018 Chortle Award for Best Tour
- Topics
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