Live Review: Limmy, Surprisingly Down To Earth, and Very Funny @ Òran Mór, Glasgow (4/3/19)

First of all, I’d like to say a huge thanks to The Head Scratcher for having me do a review on his page. I tend to do music reviews (@RWEI_reviews on the socials, if anyone fancies checking it out!) so I’m grateful for the opportunity to talk about something slightly different here. You may see some further collaborations between our two pages at some point in the future as well. So, let’s get started.

On the 4th March, I went to see Limmy over in the Òran Mór in the West End of Glasgow. The show itself was in equal parts comedy, a Q&A session, as well as promotion and a signing for his new book Surprisingly Down To Earth, And Very Funny. For those who are familiar with Limmy, the choice of the title here will seem incredibly apt (check out his Twitter page @DaftLimmy if not). This was somewhat made more appropriate throughout this show, but I’ll get to that later.

Released on the 21st February, this is the third book by the cult comedian/streamer/social media extraordinaire, but it is the first to venture outside of the realms of fictional short stories. As described in the blurb, the book has Limmy narrating his own tumultuous but incredibly fascinating life in its entirely. I’ve yet to read the book as I only got a copy of one at the event itself, but needless to say, I’m looking forward to reading it in the next wee while. Especially after the show I saw here.

I’m not much of a fan of comedy, so I’ve only been to a couple of shows in my life. Therefore I didn’t know what quite to expect for this evening as it had a slightly different format. The only two other shows I’ve seen have been quite large scale (Frankie Boyle over at the Royal Theatre and Kevin Bridges at the SSE Hydro (spot the common theme amongst all these comedians…), whereas room in the Òran Mór was considerably smaller. There must have only been a couple of hundred people here but as it was a sold out show, it was pretty rammed. Luckily, we managed to get in quite early after milling around the West End for a little while, so we got some seats right in the front row. This seemed like the perfect setting for a more intimate show which included a Q&A session.

As the room began to fill, I was struck by the sheer variety of people who were here for this show. I anticipated that the crowd would largely be made up of young people who were familiar with his Twitter and Twitch presence, but there was a large amount of people in the 35+ age bracket as well as a largely mixed gender split. As I’ll describe later, the scope of his audience really highlights the breadth of his work and the appeal that he has garnered. By the time the announcement from the tannoy came for the show to begin, the room was packed to the brim and Limmy came bouncing onto the stage from the back of the room.

Starting off proceedings was a mimed performance of ‘Story of My Life’, a short song that I believe he’s written specifically for this book campaign. Check it out here. It’s surprisingly catchy. For most comedy acts, this would seem incredibly shallow, but the overly knowing campy delivery here brought out chuckles from across the room. This would be the first of many times tonight that Limmy’s excellence at using exaggerated facial gestures would make the comedy work so well. Cutting off from this act, Limmy then reverted back to his natural slightly broad Glaswegian accent, and the show would begin for real.

After introducing his new book, he asked the audience whether we wanted to hear renditions of any of the characters he has invented other the years. The variety of these characters just went to show just how impressive Limmy’s repertoire and imagination throughout his career really is. Among Limmy’s Show favourites such as Jacqueline McCafferty, Dee Dee and Falconhoof, there were examples from various sketches such as Malcolm Malcolm and plenty of other unnamed characters. I was unfamiliar with a few of these as I haven’t exactly followed everything Limmy has done throughout the years, but the sharp delivery of the brief sketches was still a joy to watch. Unlike previous shows that Limmy has done (I’ve heard that the sketch show over at the Hydro a few years ago was a bit of a flop to most critics), the succinct delivery of this part of the show meant that none of the characters or sketches outstayed their welcome. Instead it sought to show off the breadth of Limmy’s sketches, which succeeded in appealing to the hardcore fans among the audience, but could perhaps introduce them to those who were more unfamiliar with his work (I somewhat include myself in this one).

The next section of the show centred around the book that Limmy was promoting. By selecting a few chapters, Limmy would narrate in his own distinctively self-aware way, adding in a few quips along the way to improve the storytelling further. Nestled within the daft exploits of the self-professed nutcase was a sense of insecurity which was ultimately tackled with a knowing sense of dark humour. The examples of not getting a wave back in the playground as a child, taking acid all the time as a teen, being so bored when he was on the dole to the point of following a friend walking down the street for half an hour, and not getting on with a producer for the first series of Limmy’s Show really do point to the entertaining psyche of the comedian in a way which is both insightful and hilarious. This part reminded me the most of Limmy’s Twitch career of late, where dark humour is laced with an open, slightly sarcastic ‘for the fans’ sort of mentality that is really engaging to watch. The art of Limmy’s storytelling is really great, and I’m looking forward to starting the book in the next while. It was this part of the show that made me think about getting the audiobook at some point as well, as the expressiveness of his voice would no doubt make the book even more hilarious. And that brought the first half of the show to an end and provided a good chance to stretch our legs. Man, those seats at the Òran Mór were not comfy in the slightest.

After the 15 minute ‘piss break’, the tannoy announced Limmy’s arrival once more. ‘Story of my Life’ rolled again before being cut off halfway through as Limmy had had enough of its overbearing campiness. Onto the Q&A session. As mentioned before, the scope of the audience was really nice to see, and this extended to the questions that were asked of him. Some of which revolved around certain aspects of Limmy’s career such as whether or not he would bring back Limmy’s Show (probably not, as he’s largely moved on from this), who’s the most famous person to follow him on Twitter (Calvin Harris, to the enjoyment of his partner Lynn), and perhaps most hilariously whether or not Limmy’s Show would ever be available on DVD (“it’s all on Netflix, you utter weapon”). The banterous debate back and forth between Limmy and the man a few seats next to me who was defending the joys of older media formats was just hilarious to watch. I did expect more of these sorts of take-downs of the audience, having seen Frankie Boyle absolutely rip to shreds several people in his audience but ultimately the good natured banter of this show made it a far better atmosphere than the former. Not even when several English and American members of the audience (normally prime targets for Limmy’s Glaswegian humour) asked questions, did they get picked on in the way I expected.

There was a down to earth sense of openness within the full Q&A section that felt more like Limmy mocking himself than those who had came to see him. And the geographic diversity within the audience really does show the wide appeal of Limmy’s humour, challenging the idea that he is limited to a Scottish audience. Other questions ranged from whether Limmy was a fan of Apex Legends (he tried to get into it but it didn’t do much for him), whether he ever worried about his son getting embarrassed of his work (his own embarrassing career would actually provide a saviour-esque bullet vest for any of his son’s own embarrassment), why he didn’t ‘meet Keith Flint at a charity do’ (he felt uncomfortable making a tweet about this instance due to his death being related to mental health, Billy Connelly will be fair game though) and what his main fetish is (‘some good old fanny’). Ah Limmy.

As with any of these types of sessions, it was the answers to these questions that made this part of the show so funny to watch, and Limmy’s ability to always inject a bit of self-deprecating, and sometimes dark, humour into even the most benign question stopped this from ever feeling mundane or boring. I suppose that’s why Limmy’s been so successful in creating such a brand for himself in every single aspect of his career to date.

And with that, the show was over, and my cheeks were hurting from smiling. This was cemented when I finally got to meet Limmy afterwards and got him to ‘cancel’ me in person (as you can see from the photo below). Although I felt a bit nervous about meeting him and thought I was a bit awkward upon doing so, he really did come across as a normal guy. He made sure to get to everyone in the queue, taking the time to sign anything as well as taking a photo or two. This part of the event just slotted in perfectly with the rest of the show in creating the vibe that Limmy is just a regular, if slightly mental, guy who has a way of making people laugh about otherwise ordinary things. But in that, he really does.

I thought the whole vibe of the show was great, and the sense of intimacy contributed to a deeper look at his life and personality far more than seeing him do some sketches in a large venue would have ever done. And the scope of the show mirrored what makes so great about Limmy as a comedian. The willingness to embrace new formats in innovative ways, the social awareness of the human psyche and technology (the story relating to his wasted opportunity in creating and starring in an episode of Black Mirror was phenomenal), and the personable nature of this self-aware guy who’s dealt with a fair few things in his lifetime.

He really is a true gem in comedy, and I would thoroughly recommend him to anyone who has yet to check out his work. Even if you’re not so big on comedy more generally, his openness to discussing his mental health and substance abuse is something to be admired. It seems cliche to say it, but this show really did cement the fact that the book title was an apt choice, as Limmy is very much both of these things: surprisingly down to earth and very funny. I’m really glad I went to see this unique show and I would definitely see him again. I’d also recommend others do as well, if this show is still to pass by your local town. Or just get the book. Either way, you’ll have a great time. I know I did.

Full episodes of Limmy’s show are available on Netfilx here, or if you’re interested in obsolete media you can pick up the DVDs here. Finally, if you fancy a copy of the Surprising Down To Earth, and Very Funny book, you can also grab that here.

Huge thanks to Joanne at Rock Will Eat Itself for contributing this article to The Head Scratcher. Make sure you check out the RWEI blog at rockwilleatitself.blogspot.com or over on Facebook and Twitter for all your heavy music needs.

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