Googlewhack Adventure

Inevitable Googlewhack Adventure was going to be compared to " My name is Dave Gorman" . The brilliant first series from the man with the same name. Googlewhack adventure attempts to do the same kind of thing only with different rules but sadly end up looking like a show that is far too implausible. Lots of power point displays and photo's but no real people.

Dave Gorman is a very intelligent man , obviously , and he has somehow made himself a cult figure among a lot of people. In this show he seems a lot more highly strung. He's gets angry , which is fine , but it just seems too false. I wont give the ending away but i will say you see it coming a mile away but all in all i pretty disappointed.

This is one of the funniest DVD's out there from one of the most interesting comedian's in Britain today.

What is so refreshing about Dave Gorman is that he doesn't actually make up jokes to make the audience laugh, come to think of it he doesn't really tell many jokes, he just tells the audience what happened on his adventure around the world meeting other 'googlewhacks', people who may be (unknowingly) part of a huge internet game. The story is so ludicrous it can't be made up, everything here is true and that's why is it that funny. To think it all started out by him getting a random Email and then getting very drunk (don't all the best stories start that way?) If you have ever seen any of his TV shows, or read any of his books you know exactly what to expect, if you haven't then rent this and allow him to talk about his travels for two hours, you won't regret it!

After watching the majority of his first 'Im Dave Gorman' Experiment i was intrigued to find out what Googlewhacking was all about. And the end result i was presented with was sheer genius working on stage. Although it is hard to comment on the content without giving away too much, Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure takes you on a journey like no other. It all started with an email from a fan referring to his website as having a Googlewhack on it. What is a Googlewhack i hear you cry? A Googlewhack happens when you type any two words (from a dictionary or Google's own online dictionary)press search, and only get ONE result returned. Harder than you'd Expect. When Dave attempts this he finds himself taking an unexpected trip spanning a fair few miles around the world. A fantastic bit of viewing even for those unfamiliar with his work. You'll laugh, you'll cry you'll even cringe at his independent struggle to pursue this random endeavor. Random but Revolutionary. This truly is tale of epic proportions

Dave Gorman's adventure is both hugely surrealistic, and hugely real.

Based on the true tale of what happens when random events are carried to a logical end, Googlewhack is one of the most surprising one-man shows to be seen in quite a while.

As much theater as comedy it does more than just ask us to laugh or think - it causes us to wonder at the sheer magnitude and determination of the quest that Dave undertook.

Never losing his thread thanks to his trusty Mac and Keynote presentation - there is a definite mania to the whole thing.

After the first hour it began to be repetitive, then suddenly caught fire again and the last 30 minutes are superb.

Can honestly say that this is one of the best one man shows out there - and one to be enjoyed - Dave does not come across as a Las Vegas type comedian - nor Lenny Bruce - he is quintessentially unique - a downtrodden Don Quixote off questing the world - it is a wonderful and at times tiring watch - but really lingers after...

Recommended

Those who know Dave Gorman will know that he is the man who decided to set out to meet other people called Dave Gorman. A little weird but to top that he decided to set himself a series of metrics and goals (miles travelled per Gorman for example) to make it more of a challenge. The outcome of that was a particularly funny stand up show where he gave a PowerPoint presentation about his journey, showing graphs and the like to illustrate it in an engaging and entertaining way.

On this occasion he sets out to write a novel when he gets distracted by an email alerting him to the fact that he is a Googlewhack – specifically his website is the only result when two words are searched for on Google. Those words were Francophile Namesake and they start Gorman on a path to try and find people who have websites which are Googlewhacks, who in turn find him two more websites, who he will then contact and so on until he has a chain of 10, all of whom he has personally met. All against the ticking clock of a deadline of his 32nd birthday. Needless to say the novel doesn't get his full attention.

I didn't bother with this all those years ago because it did feel like a bit of a stunt (an issue he puts me in my place about during this show) rather than something that had grown organically. This feeling is very quickly left behind in this show because Gorman tells a story that really starts in the spark of wonderful coincidence and obsession – a coincidence that is so out of the blue that it would be hard to believe if I simply stated it, so I won't. Anyway the journey that it sparks is really engagingly told because Gorman puts a lot of himself into it – the joy of moving forward, the despair of dead ends and the overall of obsession of making this mostly pointless thing happen. The show spends a lot of time on the people he meets early on (where the novelty of the telling exists) and then wisely speeds up to avoid it being too samey. The conclusion is really strong as well.

It isn't always hilarious and at times it doesn't quite work; personally I didn't find Gorman as effective when he was yelling in rage at his audience because it seemed a little too forced and overly dramatic for the sake of the show, but these bits still do work thanks to the rest of it. This isn't so much a stand-up show as it is a story told with humor and energy and although sometimes it doesn't quite work, it is mostly engaging, funny and entertaining.