David O’Doherty @ Regal Theatre
Friday, April 29, 2022
Frequent visitor to these shores, esteemed Irish comedian David O’Doherty, triumphantly returned to WA for the 2022 Perth Comedy Festival with his side-splittingly hilarious new show Whoa Is Me. While many in WA may have sorely missed stand-up shows in recent times due to COVID restrictions, it seemed that no one at the Regal Theatre had missed it more than David O’Doherty himself. Which makes sense after all, for what is a stand-up comedian if there is no audience?
Running at full steam from the moment he hit the stage, O’Doherty radiated happiness and energy throughout the theatre. Armed with a seemingly endless barrage of jokes and witticisms, O’Doherty quickly warmed the audience, all the while maintaining his lackadaisical, laid-back persona. As a result, the show had a charmingly loose and rambling feel, despite each part of the show having a definitive purpose in the narrative arch.
Whoa Is Me is a mix of the observational and the personal, ranging from O’Doherty moving back in with his 83 year old parents to his recovery from a relationship break-up, as well as the occasional quirky spoken-sung musical interludes O’Doherty is known for on his glued together plastic keyboard from 1985.
Due to its exceptional laughs-per-minute pace and easy flow, the end of the show felt premature, and it really felt as though O’Doherty could go on for twice as long as he did.
And so the question; “what does a stand-up comedian do without an audience?,” might finally be answered. He obviously keeps writing jokes and simply waits and waits until he at last can perform again. And when that sweet moment does arrive, there will be stopping him. Woah Is David!
MICHAEL HOLLICK
