It’s a feature of standup that comedy watchers, more than adherents of other art forms, can see artists grow up before their eyes. When Ivo Graham first emerged, the only challenge this bashful young comic faced was being unfashionably posh and repressed. With this year’s offering, he’s a grizzled dad, bearded and bruised by relationship breakup. “We’re not at V festival any more, m’boy!”, he reflects ruefully, as life throws him into a diplomatic drinks date with the new partner of his little girl’s mum. Oh, maturity! It’s not always fun, but it’s added a bit of heft, some fruitful battle-scarring, to Graham’s comedy.
If his new show My Future My Clutter doesn’t scale the heights of its award-nominated predecessor, this remains a very effective hour of standup. Part of its pleasure is observing Graham’s greater ease with himself. Of course, self-mortification is still the keynote. Story after story revels in the 32-year-old’s indignity, as he performs a freshers’ week Zoom gig to an audience member busily making risotto, or finds himself cast adrift when he books a 12-berth barge for a 13-man stag do.
