| 06 August 2011
Ah, what a surprising and wonderful feeling it is when a short mid-set play about purchasing gravy becomes the highlight of an evening's entertainment. Tonight Andrew O'Neill wants us to embrace the alternative, which is a theme broad enough to allow for pretty much any material and style he fancies. Though clearly hitching a ride on the comedic coattails of Harry Hill and Vic n’ Bob, the bulk of O'Neill's routine perhaps owes more to Wil Hodgson, with amusing tales about meeting strangers passing the time between anarchic outbursts and surrealistic set pieces.
Frustratingly, many of the longer setups end in disappointing trail-offs, or too simplistic 'back-to-the-real-world' negations of their intricate and delightfully absurd premises. This isn't Vonnegut, it's live comedy, and so we need more than existential acceptance or elliptical silence to prompt our laughter's release. It's called a punchline for a reason, and though it's not always necessary, when O'Neill does deliver the goods, he does so with a warmth and erudition that affirms Stewart Lee's recent praise.
In his defence, O'Neill had a fairly sparse, unresponsive crowd, and it's clear that he will thrive on and rise to the energy and expectations that the inevitably larger festival audiences will bring. Indeed, it may well be the pressure of newfound televisual fame that's causing the cracks to show on this forgivably trepidatious first night. Still, O'Neill is a thoroughly likeable fellow, and though the variety displayed can be deleteriously distracting, he's definitely very smart, and can definitely be very funny. Not a great start, but by the end of this run O'Neill will surely be an unstoppable and welcome alternative to ... well, whatever he chooses.
Andrew O’Neill: Alternative, Assembly Bosco, George Square, 3-28 Aug (not 15, 22), 10.30pm
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