Micky P Kerr - The Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

A musician appearing on TV can give the illusion of overnight success. You write a few songs, put in a brief appearance on a national TV talent show and – bam! – you’re sipping champagne with Ant and Dec. Sounds relatively quick and easy, right? Micky P Kerr made it to the final of this year’s Britain’s Got Talent but those three appearances are far from the full story.

He’s played countless gigs, released a triple album called Kerr in the Kerrmunity and devised a popular Edinburgh Fringe show in the form of last year’s Lay-Z. He’s even found time to form a tongue-in-cheek boyband. Kerr has, you could say, taken the long route home. Home being a celebratory sold-out show at Leeds iconic Brudenell Social Club.

It turns out that not winning BGT was just about the best thing that could have happened to Micky P Kerr. If his time in the limelight provided him with his glitzy Knowing Me, Knowing You moment then it’s tonight’s return to the circuit that brings us his I’m Alan Partridge phase. Of course, he isn’t living in a caravan and surviving on Ginsters pasties but it’s how he addresses ‘losing’ the final that makes for some of tonight’s funniest moments.

Looking, to all intents and purposes, like a cross between Barry Gibb and Jesus he explains how he slipped from being a D-list to a Z-list celebrity once he left the show. Retiring to a chair and lit by a single reading lamp Kerr reads from his memoirs. There’s a sobbing Ant McPartlin, unrequited celebrity passion and a number of scandalous revelations about his appearance on the shows final. It’s delivered in perfect, straight-faced, celebrity audiobook style.

Of course, it’s Micky’s songs that provide much of the show's thrust and although he delves into more traditional stand-up his trusty acoustic is never far away. They might be delivered under the banner of comedy but there’s no hiding Kerr’s innate ability for a well-crafted tune.

Supermarket ballad ‘Bag for Life’ still works an absolute treat, insanely catchy and genuinely funny. The ridiculous and brilliant ‘Lonely Sock’ adopts a blues style for some hazy reflections on misplaced footwear and involves one of the nights many moments of crowd participation. The anthemic ‘Lazy Song’ brings its own lighters aloft moment (well, its mobile phones but you get the idea) and even features a little amateur kazoo playing.

As well as playing his own material Kerr also finds time to ‘reinterpret’ some more well-known artists. Without wanting to add too many spoilers, you’ll never hear Ed Sheeran (if you’re ever unfortunate enough to hear him in the first place) in quite the same way again once you’ve heard Micky’s loop pedal routine. And did I just hear Bob Dylan covering the theme tune to a popular nineties TV show?

The atmosphere is important at any gig but it seems particularly crucial at a comedy show. You definitely don’t want any tumbleweed moments. Back on home turf and on fine form, Kerr has the whole crowd on side and hanging off his every joke. The whole room is a sea of smiles and people crying with laughter. For any comedian, this has to be the sign of a job well done.

Perhaps it’s been bugging him but Kerr decides to play ‘I’m Not Arrogant’. It’s an old favourite on the Leeds scene yet it didn’t seem to chime with the TV talent show panel. He tells us that he hasn’t played it since the final. Tonight it feels triumphant.

It’s been a pretty special night and you can tell just how much selling out the Brudenell means to him. After years of working hard (don’t believe all that lazy stuff) and playing gigs whenever and wherever he can, it feels like Micky P Kerr is just getting started. Just remember kids, he’s not arrogant. He’s just genuinely better.