Alan Davies - Urban Trauma (DVD)

Alan Davies is probably best known for his role as the main character in the comedy detective show ‘Jonathan Creek’. He is also the only regular panellist on the BBC quiz show ‘QI’.
Certainly, I became a fan of Alan’s from the ‘Jonathan Creek’ series and further enjoyed his contributions to QI, however outside of this I’d seen very little of his work. Whilst I’ve always found him funny, I always (quite wrongly) assumed he was a comedic actor, ...
...For anyone totally unfamiliar with Alan Davies, I would say that his style of comedy is reminiscent of the likes of Eddie Izzard in particular, but I can see fans of Lee Evans or Bill Bailey finding his delivery and style entertaining. If you have enjoyed Alan on ‘QI’, then I think this DVD will really appeal to you. If you

Alan cover’s a range of topics, from the Olympics, Christenings, his pet cats, British Airways Pilots, as well ... more

Alan Davies is probably best known for his role as the main character in the comedy detective show ‘Jonathan Creek’. He is also the only regular panellist on the BBC quiz show ‘QI’.
Certainly, I became a fan of Alan’s from the ‘Jonathan Creek’ series and further enjoyed his contributions to QI, however outside of this I’d seen very little of his work. Whilst I’ve always found him funny, I always (quite wrongly) assumed he was a comedic actor, rather than being a stand-up comic.

‘Urban Trauma’ is Alan’s first stand-up DVD release and is my first experience of him performing in this manner. I managed to purchase it for about £9 from Amazon.
For anyone totally unfamiliar with Alan Davies, I would say that his style of comedy is reminiscent of the likes of Eddie Izzard in particular, but I can see fans of Lee Evans or Bill Bailey finding his delivery and style entertaining. If you have enjoyed Alan on ‘QI’, then I think this DVD will really appeal to you. If you

Alan cover’s a range of topics, from the Olympics, Christenings, his pet cats, British Airways Pilots, as well as various other subjects. On the whole I found the comedy to be amusing, (as you might well hope), since I think Alan’s quite an expressive individual. Whilst his actual ‘jokes’ are amusing, visual comedy is really where he manages to come into own. I think it’s very easy to compare him to Eddie Izzard in this particular instance, but I never felt as if he was simply mimicking other comedians. Whilst it’s easy to draw comparisons, I do think Alan is quite original with his material and, although I found myself saying ‘that’s like something Izzard/Bailey/Evans might do’, I didn’t find myself thinking that he was actually doing their jokes, more just approaching subjects from a similar direction, reaching his own conclusions and therefore his own jokes.

Some of the comedy is quite surreal, (though perhaps a little less-surreal than Bill Bailey). His ‘role-play’ of cows pretending to be have BSE in order to avoid being eaten is wonderful to watch, but the ‘sketch’ about his cats bringing him a ‘huge pigeon’ I found truly hilarious.

I would have to say that I didn’t necessarily find myself in a ‘laugh-a-minute’ situation. There are moments that might not make you actually laugh out loud, but I did find the show amusing and there are plenty of light-chuckles to be found throughout. Equally, there were moments where I couldn’t help myself from laughing.
There is a routine that is pure “toilet-humour”. That’s not to say that it’s infantile, but that it is literally humour based around toilets. This section I found entertaining because it echoed some of my own personal experiences. His child-like mannerisms in this particular section help to keep it amusing and inoffensive.

One thing I thought Alan does extremely well is the way in which he refers to previous jokes. He manages to set-up certain running-gags early on and uses their reference to great effect throughout the rest of the show.

I did find that fact that Alan regularly walks off stage during the act a little peculiar. I can only assume that, given how he doesn’t have a table or drinks onstage, he is going off to have a drink. In many ways this is an excellent device for the comedy, though it does border on becoming irritating. Once again, I suspect a lot of this is really down to the editing of the show and I think if you were in the audience it would make a lot more entertaining and probably make a little more sense.

I do have a couple of criticisms about the stand-up. Alan doesn’t seem to flow from subject to subject all that smoothly, although, part of me suspects this is down to the editing that has happened and I think there’s a lot of material that hasn’t been included from the show. I think this is partially why I didn’t find the show a laugh-a-minute affair, but even so I don’t think it detracts excessively from the comedy and on the whole the show is reasonably entertaining.

Compared to other comedians that I’ve mentioned, there was nothing in the show that struck me as offensive. Whilst the subjects are perhaps adult-oriented in certain areas, the language, at least for me, is wholly inoffensive. There are the occasional swear words here and there, but they’re most certainly not excessive and the majority of people I think would encounter this far worse language in their everyday lives through work or friends, (everyone has at least one fouled-mouthed friend, surely?).
I think the rating of 15 is reasonable given certain subjects that Alan touches on, but I honestly think that the vast majority of people wouldn’t be offended by the content.

The DVD itself is extremely basic, offering no special features whatsoever. The menu is a still image of Alan with ‘Play’ as the only option – there’s not even a scene selection option. In this respect the DVD is perhaps a little disappointing. It does strike me that there’s not been an awful lot of effort gone in to this particular release, especially when compared to other comedian’s first releases, which nowadays contain at least a few standard DVD options, as well as bonus material. I think the fact that this DVD is now about seven years old perhaps explains why there’s a lack of features, but it doesn’t explain the price.
I think I’d certainly feel disappointed had I paid full price for ‘Urban Trauma’ and, if I’m honest, whilst I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed having paid £9, I think this is the absolute maximum you should pay for the disc. I think somewhere around £6 or less is a reasonable price, since although the show itself is entertaining, it’s not the best I’ve ever seen, (and I do own quite a few stand-up DVDs). That said, it’s still entertaining to watch and I can see myself watching it again in the future without any particular forced effort.

Ultimately, I think this is a reasonably entertaining DVD, though it’s not the favourite stand-up routine I own. I think at the right price, if you’re a comedy fan, this is well worth having. If nothing else, the show is good enough that, were he to release another DVD, I would buy it quite happily and it certainly hasn’t alienated me from watching him in the future. I think if you consider yourself an Alan Davies fan, ‘Urban Trauma’ is satisfying. If you’ve never encountered the man before, then it’s perhaps best to watch him acting in ‘Jonathan Creek’, (or ‘The Brief’ for that matter), or try and catch ‘QI’.
‘Urban Trauma’, for me, is an average comedy routine, but whilst it isn’t a disc I would rave about, it is something I would watch and again and happily lend to friends to let them form their own decisions. Although not “highly-recommended”, it is something I’d suggest you watch. 

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