Ardal sparkles on stage
Ardal O’Hanlon (Tramway, Glasgow) ★★★✩✩
When it comes to the current pantheon of Irish comedy, there’s a curious anomaly to be found at the very heart of Ardal O’hanlon’s career.
On the one hand, as a standup comic he ranks just a rung below his peers, with his act lacking the fleetness of thought of ed Byrne; the wild unpredictability of Tommy Tiernan; the kinetic energy of Jason Byrne; or the acute, surreal observational minutiae of Jimeoin.
Yet O’hanlon is arguably a far bigger star than all four put together, with only Mrs Brown’s
Boys star Brendan O’Carroll rivalling him in the household name stakes. After starring as the hapless ‘eejit’ priest Father Dougal in Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted, O’hanlon has become of our best-loved comic actors. The latest notch in his belt, starring as Detective DI Jack Mooney in the past three series of BBC Caribbean murder mystery drama Death In Paradise, no doubt accounts for some of the ticket sales here. Yet this appearance in Glasgow as part of his latest tour, The Showing Off Must Go On!, amply demonstrates that he has lost none of his touch or ability to work a room. To that end, the show sees him vent his spleen on a variety of topics close to his heart. These include ageing and forgetfulness, as well as trying to escape from under the idiot savant shadow of Father Dougal (both combining to his embarrassment during a taxi ride home from Dublin airport where halfway through his journey he realises he’s left his car parked at the airport but can’t bring himself to tell the taxi driver for fear of stereotyping).
helicopter parenting; Catholic guilt; a little jockey sitting on your shoulder; anxiety medication where side-effects include anxiety; how there is no situation that can’t be improved with a smoke machine; and even Donald Trump bathed in Irn-Bru since he was a baby also find themselves put under the microscope in what is a laughter-filled, entertaining evening.
One that, while not exactly pushing the comedy envelope, licks it clean with an engaging, hard-to-resist, charm.