Abandoman/ David McSavage/ Maeve Higgins/ Grainne Maguire
London Irish Comedy Festival
London Irish Centre
Saturday October 12
★★★★ (out of five)
THE best of Botox treatments couldn’t spare the audience at the London Irish Centre smile lines after a massive dose of humour from some of Ireland’s best comedy exports.
Host for the night, Grainne Maguire, checked she had the right event asking the crowd who was really Irish? Then whose parents were?
Had I a copy of the Irish Post to hand with a second generation piece I may have flung it in her direction but being early in the evening she escaped and soon handed on the mic to Maeve Higgins, fairly fresh off the boat from Cork who did what the Irish do best – self-deprecation.
Maeve Higgins (Photo by Malcolm McNally)The Cobh lass left no stone unturned with one liners on everything from body image, being a dirty, filthy, naughty girl, finding out dating exists after leaving Cork for London and wondering what the code word is to attract a member of the opposite sex to snuggle close on a London Underground escalator.
After listening to the Cork brogue it was time for a cynical, grumpy, bearded Dub in the shape of, David McSavage, who had the audience in the palm of his hand the moment he took to the stage with his guitar.
He didn’t actually sing a song until he had been flashed to signal he had five minutes left but up until that point he had amused the crowd with a host of stories from how the English have little on the Irish for making life difficult - for the Irish, especially folk from Kerry, to Irishness being a mental illness - citing the behaviour of the Gallagher brothers and Boy George as evidence that their shenanigans in the public eye are down to nothing other than being Irish.
David McSavage (Photo by Malcolm McNally)McSavage brought the house down with his song about the Catholic Church with the chorus, ‘Father Finnegan, Father Finnegan – he sinned again’, followed by a wise crack stating that in comparison to Al-Qaeda the IRA are like ABBA.
The final act of the night contained so much energy and enthusiasm it would have been an idea to bottle it so the Irish soccer team could be injected with a large quantity.
Abandoman a two man act led by Dubliner, Rob Broderick, are a comedy singing act with a twist – they do it Hip Hop Stylee, which with a Dub accent is something you shouldn’t miss.
The first tune, ‘What’s in your pocket’ where the audience stick their hands up with whatever they have contained in bags and pockets is then sung about and you can only sit and applaud how his mind thinks so quickly and with such wit.
Abandoman (Photo by Malcolm McNally)Audience interaction is key to the success of the show and the crowd in Camden were in fine form all evening with a pilot and a shipping lawyer ending up on stage with Broderick who somehow created a song about the two which included several digs and a cheap budget airline which the audience were all too familiar with.
Abandoman - now based in London and are unlikely to have any time for rest with the Christmas Party season about to kick in.
