The Dave Gorman Collection

I thought the show was called Are You Dave Gorman and I thought it was premiering now! That's what BBC America claims! Anyhow, this is a great series. I have seen the first three episodes (I take it there are more to come?) and Gorman is just hilarious. Such a simple idea...to find as many other people named Dave Gorman as you can. He shows footage of him and a friend going out and finding many Dave Gormans, even finding some variations of the name, and in between, he talks in front of a live audiences, showing pictures of various dave gormans, maps, etc on a projector behind him. He is trying to keep a nice balance...300-500 mpgd (miles per dave gorman- the number of miles between each one.) It's all quite enjoyable, and Gorman himself (the first one- the host..) is very charming and perfect for something like this. I hope to see more of this odd fellow.

Here's the premise: Stand-up comedian Dave Gorman drunkenly bets his long-suffering flatmate Danny Wallace that he can find lots of people who share his name. They then travel round the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Denmark, New York, even Tel Aviv meeting some, and make a TV programme about their travels in order to pay off Dave's credit card bill. And that's it!

It doesn't really sound like much, but 'The Dave Gorman Collection' is bizarrely original and entertaining. Focusing on Dave's determination not to lose the bet, his obsession to meet fellow Daves within the 'zone' (300 to 500 Miles Per Dave Gorman is apparently acceptable) is somehow comforting and something that many men can relate to - lets be honest, we've probably all had some childish whim similar to this that we'd love to live out (for example I bet you've ALL put your own name into IMDb's search to see if there's another 'you'!!). Highly recommended, even more so if viewed in accompaniment with Dave & Danny's book "Are You Dave Gorman?".

Gorman's next project, "Dave Gorman's Important Astrology Experiment", sounds equally as strange and fun!

A guy called Dave Gorman accepts a drunken challenge to find 54 people with the same name as himself. Most people would wake up with a hangover the next morning and think no more of it, not Dave Gorman.

He turns this simple idea into a really funny TV series. After watching a few episodes, I realised that really, what he's doing is unimportant. The point of the show is to allow Dave Gorman to tell stories. The reason this works is simple; he's a damn funny guy.

I recommend this show to anyone, not just Dave Germans.

Dave Gorman's show "The Dave Gorman Collection", known in the US as "Are You Dave Gorman?" is the result of the Stage show which is itself a result of the ridiculous, but hilarious journey searching for namesakes. The chart is of MPDG, Miles Per Dave Gorman, but that is not all. This is Dave's third documentary comedy project after "Reasons To Be Cheerful" and "Better World". Both are equally as funny and are Stage shows touring the UK in early 2002.

Challenged to find 54 other people called David Gorman by his flat mate and camera man, comedian Dave Gorman travels the world to meet his namesakes and record them. He presents his findings to a studio audience as he tries to meet the requirements of his bet.

When Dave Gorman made this he was an active stand up comic. This was his first major TV presenting job and he brings his own style with him well. He isn't a great joke teller but he does manage to make things humourous. Mostly he does this by use of his projector – whether it be complicated graphs etc to show silly things or calculating averages to find where the average Gorman lives or what he looks like or even just showing boarding passes etc. The quest is so silly that it is easily funny – but Gorman still manages to keep it fresh and funny, even though it's the same every week.

While it may seem a bit pointless and is certainly an acquired comedy taste this is actually very good. I'll admit that it doesn't stand up to repeat viewings simply because it's the fresh appeal of the show that makes it good and carries I past the times when it isn't very funny. The criticisms of it can be that it does start to repeat itself after a while or start using variations on the same jokes etc – so, like I said, doesn't really stand for repeat viewings.

Overall, simply because this is different from other comedy shows it is well worth a watch. However once you've seen 2 shows, if you still don't like it then you should give up as Gorman doesn't manage to bring very much variety into what he's doing.