The Fresh Meat star enters by whizzing down the aisles on a Segway. He prowls and prances across his circular, central stage and even squeezes in animation, fireworks, confetti and costume changes. In terms of production values this is about as spectacular as comedy gets.
After formulaic opening banter with the front row the bearded-yet-boyish 25-year-old has a habit of falling back on tried and tested terrain, from the travails of air travel and train toilets to the embarrassment of getting one’s wires crossed during tweeting. Frequently funny, rarely groundbreaking. Yet alongside the workmanlike witticisms there were also more original moments as Whitehall shuttled deftly between laddism and self-mockery.
He has a particularly pithy running gag about his enduring passion for The Lion King, declaring the film to be “Shakespeare with fur”.
Elsewhere he lays bare his physical frailties, explaining how heartburn interferes with his love life and, inone excruciatingly graphic routine, offering a ball-by-ball account of a testicular examination.
Each winning line is delivered with the calculated precision of a political speech. Little seemed left to chance or overlooked. Even Whitehall’s curmudgeonly father Michael has a surprise cameo
As for Whitehall Junior, one has to admire his skill. Never mind The Lion King, he does enough in this show to confirm that he is comedy royalty.