Daniel Foxx: How Lovely – Glee Club, Glasgow

Daniel Foxx’s debut show introduced him as a puckish type, toying with a villainous persona. But while he remains naughtily arch in this follow-up, he’s a more humbled figure, the demise of his long-term relationship re-casting him in the film of his life as a more pitiful, supporting character.

How Lovely’s central conceit is that the committed rom-com fan has allowed himself to be swept up by their promises, allowing the awesome, seductive power of Julia Roberts and Colin Firth’s turn as Mr Darcy to blind him to relationship realities.

Foxx is piqued by scepticism and snobbery about the genre, dismissing this as straight men’s instinctive misogyny, with some justification. He won’t have it, claiming a rom-com lineage from Nora Ephron to the literary masterworks of Austen, Shakespeare and the ancient Greeks.

However, while he completely bought into the fairy tale of his hot, pro wrestler boyfriend, a Prince Charming beyond the expectations of a “house pig” like himself, the comic is not so naïve that he doesn’t know that he was being sold unrealistic aspirations, the fantasy gap between the film Notting Hill and the actual Notting Hill.

Even as he opts to focus on his partner’s out-of-his-league attractiveness, the small but increasingly loud voice at the back of his mind notes how there isn’t an equal division of domestic labour in their household, turning him into a shrewish nag.

And though it shouldn’t come as any great surprise that the relationship foundered given Foxx’s wounded retelling, he’s nevertheless adept in winning sympathy as the jilted party while keeping the laughs coming at the curdling of the dream.

He seeks to reinvent himself in a second act, returning to his home town to rediscover himself and an old acquaintance, with the scene apparently set for a heart-warming glow up and personal resurgence.

Unfortunately, life, and Foxx’s comic instincts tend elsewhere. And a twist in the tale prompts his exasperated reflections at being back on the dating scene in his 30s, desperately swiping through apps in despair at the dearth of suitable suitors. Even when he once again bags a hotter prospect than himself, the reality of open relationships means he’s once again destined for a cameo role in another, smugger person’s story.

Foxx’s failure to find himself a neat, happy resolution emphasises that he’s at his funniest as an outsider, unsuccessfully edging into established cliques. Not for him any blokey chat about football or cars. However, he can amusingly mimic heteronormative noises of appreciation when confronted by a range of Le Creuset.

Similarly, it’s only by joining a book group full of women that the scales fell from his eyes about rampant female horniness and hypocrisy, the romantasy sub-genre of fiction exposing the lie that it’s only men who enjoy unrealistic erotica and porn, his incredulous reporting back finding him establish a compelling head of steam.

How Lovely is far from perfect, unfolding with a calculated precision which, despite its mild twists and turns, betrays the formulaic plotting of its source inspiration. Still, Foxx is charming and winningly indiscreet, a mischievously caustic but endearing performer who knows how to spin a yarn. So there’s considerable, vocal surprise in the crowd when he seems to bring the show to an end but then announces an interval.

It shouldn’t be that startling given that he first established himself online. But while soliciting gossip from the audience about their romantic adventures via WhatsApp for the second half is amusing enough, it’s the definition of tacked on and makes the show feel like a long night.