Picking up a new hobby past the age of 30 can sometimes feel demeaning. Daran ‘Jonno’ Johnson decided to get into stand-up at the grand age of 39. He’s been doing comedy of the musical variety with his sketch group Sheeps for years, and has recently achieved success as the head writer of SNL UK, but up until now has never gone solo. You could be forgiven for thinking he’d been doing it for years watching ‘Here Comes Mr Funny’.

Jonno is completely at ease being in the spotlight. He has no qualms about looking ridiculous. The show begins with an ostensibly earnest musical number about a workplace crush which slowly morphs into  outright absurdity when it is revealed that this fictional office makes its employees perform crude acts on live camels. Later on he promises to perform a freestyle rap, continually pleading with the engineer to lower the tempo as he screams and wails at his inability to come up with a single bar. By making a clown of himself for the audience’s benefit, Jonno is putting himself through a kind of exposure therapy, something he can explore with greater depth now he is a one-man band. 

Jonno’s swaggering confidence interplays with his more vulnerable side, which he exposes to us by taking a seat on the ‘sincerity stool’  on the side of the stage. He engages in frank discussions about bad breakups, discovering his sexuality, and a lack of confidence to put himself  forward for auditions. Shortly after he’s back on his feet with a bombastic song and a safe layer of cynicism reapplied, but you feel grateful for having received those intimate confessions, and you get the sense Jonno feels better for opening up. 

If you’re a fan of Jonno’s previous work with Sheeps you’ll be well served here, but those looking for an hour of stand-up may be a little confused. ‘Here Comes Mr Funny’ is a less an hour of stand-up than a loose collection of comedic musical sketches interspersed with some musings on comedy and the stresses that come with it. All the parts individually are great, but whether they come together to create a cohesive work is unclear. It feels more like  Jonno is dipping his toe into stand-up than diving in headfirst. 

‘Here Comes Mr Funny‘ is at Monkey Barrel 2 at Monkey Barrel Comedy until Sat 29 Aug 2026