Maybe it was the international audience, maybe it was the jet lag, but Jack Dee didn’t seem on top form at the Dubai World Trade Centre on Thursday night.
Support act John Widdicombe brought the audience back to their childhood with a nostalgic take on bunk beds and cereal, which was a lovely trip down memory for the spoiled expats of Dubai, and much nicer than going down the insult route that many comedians take.
When Dee came on he began by talking about people in Dubai, regurgitating the usual cliches that we hear from many comedians who stop over in the city as part of their world tours. Many others do it better though.
Dee spoke about his family and revelled in the differences of teenagers today with their technology and video games. He then began to regale us with a tale about his week, and what a bad week it had been — we know his image is that of a grumpy sod, but some of the laughs depended on us knowing this beforehand to get the joke.
The story seemed to go on for days itself as he laboured over the events of the week. He’s used the same routine while on tour in the UK, where he also does a ‘help desk’ in which he gives ‘advice’ to audience members brave enough to tell him their woes. I think this would have worked beautifully in Dubai and I for one would have preferred it.
It felt slightly uncomfortable to me when at one point he started to do a Japanese tourist’s accent — when the man was asking Dee for directions — for cheap laughs. Well, there’s no accounting for taste.
I would think long and hard about spending Dh300 to see any comedian except Billy Connolly or Russell Peters. I’d only consider paying Dh500 if it was for a Richard Pryor-back-from-the-dead-one-night-only show. But Dubaians are used to such excess it seems, at least that’s what the price-fixers believe — and I guess they’re right.
For me, the Laughter Factory comedy club that’s held in the city regularly is a much better laugh and great value for money featuring various stand-ups brought in from the UK and elsewhere.
