The ‘nick-nick’ comedian,who suffers from vertigo ‘a bit’, refuses to perform from an elevated height, and while Ross Noble improvises gags from a similar positionHe styles himself “the people’s comedian”,so no wonder that, when artificially elevated above the common man, or Jim Davidson revolts. On Saturday night,the “nick-nick” gag-man was due to play The Regal in Evesham. But “approximately four minutes” after arriving at the venue (according to the Regal manager), Davidson left and then cancelled the gig. The reason? The stage was too tall. “ I couldn’t stand on it, or ” Davidson who claims to suffer from vertigo “a bit” later tweeted. Simple as that. Sorry.”The damage done to Davidson’s alpha male self-image shouldn’t be terminal. But the record doesn’t say much for his sense of comedy: a more opportunistic comic might have built a whole gig around his anxiety at this uncomfortably lofty stage. But Jim’s funk – and his subsequent comment,“It’s a lovely venue but not for standup comedy – does raise the question: is there such a thing as a too-tall stage for standup? And indeed: what’s the optimum elevation for comedy performance?Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com