Jack Barry kicks off his show by talking about how his most recent gigs have been less than successful. His agent would like him to stop mentioning this on stage, he reveals, but he can't! It's therapeutic! It's this spirit of honesty and confession that runs through the heart of Tango and its thoroughly enjoyable take on sex and relationships in the modern age.

One of the leading threads of Tango is Barry ruminating on 'How to be a better boyfriend' - both sexually and in every day life. His girlfriend (who he met when she was dating his friend - again, no holds barred here!) is Argentinian and to show his support for her at a recent football game, he wore the Argentinian shirt. If you're thinking, "no big deal, right?", you clearly have not encountered one of the overzealous fans who like to disguise a lifetime of inadequacy by living vicariously through their chosen sports team. One such man chastised Barry for not wearing an England shirt and taunted him about being 'under the thumb', for supporting his girlfriend's country and presumably letting her out the house in lieu of chaining her to the oven. As Barry astutely recalls saying to him, 'Why wouldn't I support Argentina - my girlfriend is Argentinian and she's the person I love most in the world....You're English and I hate you!".

Covering topics from losing virginity to threesomes, no ground is too personal - or inappropriate - for Barry to cover, even with the presence of several of his family members in the crowd. Indeed, kudos should go to his girlfriend who sat by the stage, admirably game, as her sex life was dissected in front of the audience. Barry has particular fun discussing oral sex and the men who refuse to offer it to women while unashamedly expecting it in return. Y'know, real men. It would be easy for a show of this nature to just descend into a series of racy anecdotes but Barry does more with his material, using it to explore deeper thinking around equality within sex and, indeed, the initial stages of sex education. Boys are taught about sex and masturbation whereas girls' primary focus is a titillating lesson on the menstrual cycle. The idea of female sexual pleasure being equal to that of a man is, even in 2019, still somewhat of a radical view and it's great hearing male comics discuss the issue - not to preach or 'mansplain' - just to keep people talking about it. 

Barry mentioned that at a previous gig, an usher informed him two of his audience members had been caught having sex in the toilets directly afterwards. Feel free to take that as a ringing endorsement of the show and check out Jack Barry's future tour dates here.

jackbarry.co.uk