Tom Wrigglesworth

Overview

Tom Wrigglesworth must constantly feel indebted to fate. The former telecommunication and satellite worker's career as a comedian was launched thanks to an unpredicted and accidental arrest at the train station. The comedian's first critically acclaimed show told this hilarious story, where a hungover Wrigglesworth was boarding a Virgin train at Manchester, when he witnessed a ticket inspector forcing old-age pensioner Lena Ainscow to purchase a new full price train ticket. Wrigglesworth attempted to help Lena by informing her of the senior citizen pass, annoying the ticket inspector, who then arranged for the Police to charge Wrigglesworth with begging. The show was a hit, and Wrigglesworth, a world-famed and well-loved comedian, was born.

His newest tour, Utterly At Odds With the Universe, tells of Wrigglesworth's loving goodbye to his late grandfather. It starts with a cassette recording of Tom interviewing his grandfather as a young boy. He goes on to tell stories of growing up with his grandfather, self-professed DIY king, who could fix anything so long as he had the right tool.

Wrigglesworth's humour and mannerisms are the classic eccentric English comedy routine, and some of his performance may even seem unprepared. Don't be fooled. He has nailed the art of appearing not so well rehearsed, so that the entire routine has a spontaneous and spur-of-the-moment facade. His jokes are often intelligent, and require some thinking and concentration to reach the punchline, but these smart jokes are broken up with a few about male genitals and a classic falling over gag.

The show goes out with a bang and an unexpected twist that'll have a lot more impact if you're listening hard right from the beginning. No spoilers here though, so go check it out for yourself.