It must be strange being one of the older generation of comics and seeing comedy become a place where you talk about your emotions, your trauma and your mental health.

 

Alan Davies is not doing that sort of show.  But he has decided to return to the Fringe after ten years and to tell a story which he’s been hiding for most of his life.

 

Davies, as he revealed in his autobiography, was molested by his own father at a young age.   It remained a secret for years – but eventually the truth came out.

 

It takes a long time, he says, for these sorts of things to emerge.  For men, especially, the shame and confusion keeps everything inside.  It can take years.  And it has.

 

Davies is a people pleaser by nature and he surrounds his big reveal with lots of funny relatable material about age.

 

He separates the audience into generations and gambols his way around cultural references fit for each one.

 

He talks a lot about his own children, painting himself as an irascible irritable older dad who is constantly outwitted by the younger members of the family.

 

He doesn’t say it – but the subtext is this is what a family should be like – loving, joking, annoying each other.

 

It wasn’t like that for him.   His whole life was overshadowed by this horrible experience – which made him shake and have palpitations when he got too close to certain subjects.

 

When he finally tells the story on stage you can hear his breath becoming short and shallow, you can sense the panic and the fear.   It’s astonishing that he continues doing what he loves and makes people laugh – even as the terror overcomes his body.

 

He isn’t like the younger comedians, who can weave the revelations into a theatrical narrative.  But it is deeply moving that Davies, who has been a comic for more than 30 years, has decided to explore this private aspect of his life in public.

 

A couple of people are uncomfortable to hear a man off the telly talking like this.  They leave.  They are probably the same sort of people who clap like seals when they hear men off the telly swearing in comedy shows.

 

As Davies says: ‘Fuck em’.

 

This is his show, his story, his decision.  Well, good on him.

 

Davies over runs a little and misses out some of his material. He has had a day off and it’s thrown him – which is a very common phenomenon during a long Fringe.

 

I’m sure he knows this.  He knows what he’s doing.  He’s an old hand.  He doesn’t have to do this but he’s decided it is time.

 

So bravo.  The whole story is finally out in the open.   The least we can do is hear him out.