By AARON McGILLIVRAY
THERE can be few things more intimidating than taking a seat in the famous Mastermind black chair to face rapid-fire questions from legendary TV inquisitor, John Humphries.
Yet that’s exactly where comedian George Lewis found himself in January, answering questions on his specialist subject, the work of 90s Britpop supergroup, Oasis.
What’s more he actually won, beating off challenges from rugby commentator Eddie Butler, actor Louis Payne and Olympic gold-medal winning cyclist Jo Rowsell Shand.
That alone would give most comedians enough material for an entire show. But no, the only element of this to feature in Lewis’s show, A Man, A Plan, A Girl With a Fake Tan, is his love of anthemic tunes from the Gallagher brothers.
His show tells the story of when George was 12 and he fell for the most beautiful, most orange girl in Stockport. To win her heart, he decided he needed to act less like a boy and more like a man. Specifically, the coolest man in Britain at that point: chimp-walking Oasis frontman, Liam Gallagher.
George looks back on life as a teenager in a world that was going crazy for Britpop, Minidiscs and New Labour. He paints himself as a self-assured geek who was trying extremely hard to be cool, but getting it so, so wrong.
He also reflects on the fact that while he’d like to think his experiences were just something every teenage boy goes through, the odd story of his life as an adult suggests he’s not actually changed that much after all.
He still tries to be cool. He still gets it wrong, more often than not. And he’s still a huge Oasis fan.
He’s also one of the hottest new comedy stars in the UK, having won pretty much every “rising star” style award there is on the circuit – so catch this show if you can.
