Tiernan Douieb is an endearing and good natured performer,
and this goes some way to compensate for what is an occasionally pedestrian
set.
He has recently turned 28 and he uses the show to reflect on what it means
to be a grown-up. His girlfriend has goals. She wants to get married and
have children, but Douieb isn’t quite ready. Children are only fun,
he says, when you can mess with their heads for a while and then return
them to their parents. So when does one become mature? It’s not the
most original question, and his performance style is slightly rambling,
but he has an amiable manner which goes down well with the chilled-out Sunday
afternoon crowd.
Some segments are more unexpected, such as when he talks about being an insulin-dependent diabetic or about the importance of listening to and learning from his 83-year-old nan. It would have been interesting to see these developed further.
But while some of his material could certainly do with tightening,
his appeal lies less in individual gags – though he has a few gems
– and rather in his gently self-deprecating style and boyish excitement
about things.
Review by Natasha Tripney
Published online at 10:30 on Monday 10 August 2009
Taken from The
Stage