Cockney geezer makes loadsamoney, loses it but ultimately discovers the right wine to drink with his seared tuna. Micky Flanagan's autobiographical show is a simple story of East End boy made good. Nothing flash, just well-told anecdotes held together by cheeky grins and effortless self-deprecation.
This genial tale of personal gentrification takes us from Flanagan's childhood in pre-trendy Shoreditch, where he left school at 15 with nothing but a bottle opener, via Billingsgate fish market and Manhattan, to the verdant slopes of yummy mummy East Dulwich, where the balsamic vinegar flows freely.
The long-haired 45-year-old came late to stand-up, bagging a 2007 if.comedy Best Newcomer nomination in Edinburgh, and life has given him great source material. He is very good at capturing Eighties seduction etiquette - all silk kimonos, Luther Vandross and prawn cocktail. He also has great sauce material - his vignette about requesting ketchup in a posh bistro is a peach.
If an academic out there wants to research social mobility in modern Britain, this class act would be the perfect case study. But they may have difficulty getting time with him. Flanagan's impressive set, which builds from chuckles of recognition to helpless guffaws, suggests he is going to be busy for the foreseeable future.
Until tomorrow(0870 429 6883, www.sohotheatre.com).
Micky Flanagan: What Chance Change?
Soho Theatre
Dean Street, W1D 3NE
