Showing @ Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh until Sat 25 Aug @ 18:20
Bursting through the curtains, Keith Farnan starts by high-fiving and then predicting the deaths of the entire front row. A bold move in an otherwise traditional stand-up set, tempered by the fact that the deaths are so ridiculous and/or flattering that offence is impossible. Fear then is the subject up for discussion, and Farnan tackles it all, from the big stuff (Death, Catholic priests) to the little stuff (sentient robots). Most of it works well and there’s an elegant structure to the routine, which builds to a rather satisfying, if slightly subdued, conclusion.
Occasionally Farnan gets distracted; a contemplation on how ‘bungalow’ is the most depressing word in the English language starts strongly but suffers from diminishing returns. How children should never be considered your greatest achievement also produces fewer laughs – although this isn’t due to Farnan’s points not being funny (because they really, really are) but because the audience seems to contain several now slightly peeved parents. But Farnan’s gift is that even when he makes a cutting statement, he does so with immense grace and charm. It doesn’t quite hit the heights of his ponderings on the Irish economy in 2011, but it gets pretty close.