Dave Gorman: His Googlewhack Adventure

There's a certain type of person who only goes on holiday so they can show you the slides when they get back. Dave Gorman is one of those people.

Luckily he's not your boring uncle who just returned from a guided boat tour of the Dudley canal system- h'es more like your hilarious best friend who has just been to four continents to win a bet (for no money) that he couldn't meet ten consecutively linked Googlewhacks (see below), a challenge made him by another man from France. Who also was called Dave Gorman.

For the uninitiated, a Googlewhack occurs when two search terms are entered into Google, yielding just a single result. This is not as easy as it sounds. Believe it or not, a Googlewhack is a fairly unique thing. Gorman, himself, was a Googlewhack because his website contained the words "francophile" and "namesakes." Once someone informed him of this, he decided to find another Googlewhack, and then inform them of their Googlewhack status. After this, he got a bit obsessive and determined to meet ten Googlewhacks in a row before his 32nd birthday.

Gormans show is more than stand-up comedy. Its a unique two hour narrative, complete with slides of everyone he meets, his plane tickets, his agent (patiently waiting for the book Gormans supposed to be writing), his new beard, and countless other illustrations plus helpful diagrams and flow-charts to map his progress. Hilarious from first to last, Gorman spins his yarn for maximum comic effect. Every word, every wry observation, every gesture is comic timing honed to perfection. Even the simple click that accompanies the change of slides is done for laughs, and you cant help but be set along with him on this eccentric journey.

Of course, its easy to claim hes just repeating the formula of Are You Dave Gorman? About four years ago, he did a similar one man show, recounting his attempts to find and meet 54 other people named Dave Gorman (which is how he met the Dave Gorman from France). His arguments that Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure is not a cynically conceived sequel are a key element to the performance.

Approximately midway through, in a well-timed change of pace, Gorman gets angry. He argues vehemently and convincingly that this is all true, was all done on impulse, and is not an attempt to recreate his earlier success. He comes across like the retired criminal forced into one last job as he explains the battle to resist his obsessive impulses: to grow up, grow a beard, and write a novel. Fortunately, he lost that battle and was compelled to take on another globe trotting quest. Gormans final argument is that if he was any good at making things up, hed have written that novel instead.

Its difficult to find comparative touchstones. No one else comes to mind who has so perfectly mixed narrative and comedy. You could say hes like a much funnier Bill Bryson but hes so much funnier that the comparison fails. While it is a travelogue of sorts, the focus is on the strange cast of characters, rather than the foreign destinations. Chief amongst these strange characters is Gorman himself. Much of the comedy comes from his deadly serious determination to complete such a blatantly silly task; in fact, the clash between the trivial nature of Googlewhacking and the gravitas with which Gorman treats his task is the engine that drives the whole show.

The setbacks, triumphs and resolutions form a tightly plotted narrative. From the highs that only the kindness of strangers can bring, to the lows of eating a Pot Noodle with a toothbrush, plus a heartwarming dnouement that even the most shameless of Hollywood screenwriters would hesitate to use-- all without taking his foot off the comedy pedal. So the next time your uncle offers to show you the slides of his canal tour, remind him that a man named Dave Gorman has raised the bar for such things considerably, and unless he can match Gormans performance, he should keep his slides in the box where they belong.

Politics Factzone: The truth about Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Il, the leader of the free world, has decided to move on to more fertile grounds, leaving with us just the memories of 8-color rainbows, singing Korean women and couple of nuclear weapons. But who was this man whose next ambition would have been to get the next Nobel Peace prize? Here are just a few facts you should know about. more Top 5 Conspiracy Theories Related to John F. Kennedy's Assassination 26.Aug 2011 Since just after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, conspiracy theories abou...read ISRAEL KEEPING GHADDAFI AFLOAT 10.Mar 2011 ...read Glen Beck Is NOT the Anti-Christ! 10.Mar 2011 Hurtful and fiery rhetoric is now media’s default setting! This slippery and m...read Recipe for A REVOLUTION! (10 easy steps - try not to get burned!) 28.Feb 2011 Rebellion is cooking in the air. People are mad as hell, and not going to take...read THE ASSANGE CASE. CIA INTERFERED WITH SWEDISH LEGAL PROCESSES EXTREME RIGHT POLITICS A DANGER TO EUROPEAN UNITY THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY. OUT OF TOUCH, OUT OF FOCUS, OUT OF CREDIBILITY AND HOPEFULLY, OUT OF THE DOOR Opinion World governments charged with criminal negligence (in response to Megaupload case) EARTH (thecheers.org) - Federal authorities of the universe have charged the governments of all the countries in the world as well as the operators actually in power in these countries with operating a criminal enterprise, the Galaxy warriors announced Today. more The Great OSCARS 2011 – or so it would seem 5.Mar 2011 So, how exciting......a morning off, the Academy Awards. I wish I could say the...read Top 7 Expensive Bordellos. Prostitution: Shakedown, Tier Down, and Priced Out 31.Jan 2011 According to a report of the Washington DC-based US Department of State, The Ph...read The Great Secret and Reason for the JFK Assassination 11.Oct 2010 The great question is why the great secret? On June 4 1963, President Kennedy s...read Don't Do it! The 3 Worst Times to Get Tattoos 4.Oct 2010 As a general rule, tattoos gotten after 2 am are a bad idea. But in a bigger pi...read

Travel Travel Warning 13 September 2010 - DO NOT TRAVEL TO IRAN 13.Sep 2010 TRAVELWISE has been watching the situation in Iran for some months in relation ...read more TRAVELWISE TRAVEL ADVISORY 5th June 2010. DO NOT TRAVEL TO ISRAEL. 5.Jun 2010 Given the recent incident whereby the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, used...read TRAVELWISE. 16 APRIL 2010. EUROPEAN TRAVEL ALTERNATIVES 16.Apr 2010 Travelwise issues the following advice in relation to cancelled flights to, fro...read TRAVELWISE 6 APRIL 2010. AUSTRALIAN AIR TRAVEL. THE BEST WAYS TO TRAVEL BY AIR IN AUSTRALIA. 5.Apr 2010 Regular readers might have seen and read the various advisory and no-fly notice...read TRAVELWISE 2 APRIL 2010. QANTAS. 2.Apr 2010 Some concerns have been raised in relation to some of the maintenance practices...read Sport No Payoff From the Playoffs $16.50 will Get Anyone in the Hall Mr McGwire Stupid Athlete Tricks Technology Think Big! Think the World's Largest International Trade Show Top 9 cool laptop accessories for laptop geeks Twittering: I'm not that interesting Cheers Jesus' Answering Machine Brown Couch or twelve midgets in the town square How To Be Happy Drugged Out Saturday Nights Muslim Decapitation: Bad, or Simply Misunderstood?