You can take the comedian out of the holiday camp but you can’t take the holiday camp out of the comedian. Former Pontin’s bluecoat Lee Mack might have been playing a rammed Hammersmith Apollo on Saturday night but the McGill postcard cheekiness of the seaside entertainer was never far away in a riotously unpretentious set overflowing with smutty giggles.
This was a show that hit the ground running with a stupidly silly magic trick and never looked back. There was no overarching concept, just a glorious march-past of quickfire swipes at neverending DFS sales, dubious late-night television, unlikely rhyming slang, supermarket loyalty cards and anything else that sprang from the Blackburn-born panel game star’s grasshopper mind. Unreconstructed in his attitude to Geordies, large women and people of restricted height, but a choirboy by Frankie Boyle standards.
Mack, right, is a fascinating throwback, forever only a "wa-hey!" away from an Eric Morecambe impression as he raced around the stage, pausing only to undertake a mock post- mortem on occasional subtler gags that died. If the scripted skits were skilful though, the high-velocity ad libbing truly earned Mack his stars. His withering put-downs stunned hecklers at a stroke and a sublime off-script all-guns-blazing encore sealed the deal.
Also 10-12 May. Information: 0844 277 4321, www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Lee Mack: Going Out
Hammersmith Apollo
Queen Caroline Street, W6 9QH
