Jim Tavare Mathew Hardy Punchline Comedy Club February 11 It's a wonderful gift to be able to make people laugh by doing nothing. Unless you wish to be serious, that is. But Briton Jim Tavare surely could never be serious.
He could have been the classic ugly kid in the playground who turned to humour for acceptance, and now, at 34, can turn around and stick his double bass up the backside of his former schoolboy peers.
I'm sure Tavare won't mind me pointing out one of his lease aesthetic qualities. He does, after all, look like one of the least attractive patients in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
But his startling appearance, complete with dinner suit and the largest of stringed instruments, guarantees he will stand out, as will his infectious style that had the audience in stitches from the moment he came on and . . . said nothing.
'He's like Tommy Cooper,' whispered someone behind me. He was right. Tavare's style is dead-pan and full of nods, winks and glances. A few words here, a few there.
You found yourself laughing in anticipation when Cooper arrived on stage. And you do with Tavare. Some people can stand up and be funny. Others simply are funny, and Tavare is one of them.