VIDEO: Dara Ó Briain has crowds tickled pink at Live at the Marquee
Many comics shy away from the front row. O Briain embraces it, relishing the chance to use the audience as props. “It’s not about picking on them,” he says. “It’s about lifting them up, like Simba, so people can bask in their majesty.”
There wasn’t much bask-ing going on, although the front row was willing and able. Padraig, a garda, is a prime target. “Would you take a bullet for me,” Ó Briain asks him. Padraig indicates he has no intention of taking so much as a bitch-slap for him.
O Briain is as nimble as a gazelle on steroids and wasn’t in Cork to confront but rather to cajole and show his mastery of working the crowd.
Ó Briain introduces himself offstage and then emerges — a big man with a big wave and an even bigger bow for his gig in “the natural home of comedy in Cork: A giant tent in Mahon”.
Crowd still coming (even though was meant to kick off at 8pm) @daraobriain @LATMofficial #Cork #latm pic.twitter.com/FhMpydr2UT
— Ken Curtin 🇮🇪 🇪🇺 (@kencurtin) July 3, 2015
Holding close on 4,000, the venue may be too large for such a one-man show. Ó Briain uses his bulk to good effect, moving, striding, and gliding from one end of the stage to another.
The trouble was that much of that physical comedy was lost on the audience. Close-up videos would have helped but there were no screens.
Yet his magic was evident. If Ó Briain was a planet, we would all be satellites, drawn by some mysterious magnetic force into his cerebral world as he assumes his audience’s intelligence and delivers witty asides.
The Mock The Week host is a master of genial banter and riffs at supersonic speed with a smooth delivery.
He could probably do it in braille if his eyesight failed and he had a bout of laryngitis.
At a show in Dublin’s Burlington Hotel some years ago, his mic went dead in front of 1,000 people, but he still managed to seduce them with a whisper, as they craned to listen, shifting back and forth like Wimbledon spectators.
Last night’s audience was little different With a laser eye for spotting the absurd, Ó Briain can get a laugh out of just about anything — from a map of the human brain to the obsession with pulled pork in pubs and restaurants.
Dara Ó Briain just landed at @LATMofficial. Listen live to Dara chatting to Steve on air @daraobriain #WeAreCork pic.twitter.com/9sUd2JaAs2
— Cork's 96FM (@Corks96FM) July 3, 2015
His routines are classy and, to some extent, classic, harking back to the kindly comics of old. He doesn’t do nasty or blue comedy. He doesn’t have to.
Unlike many modern comics, Ó Briain doesn’t go in much for effin‘ and blindin‘ either, apart from his opening broadside: “If you laugh on the inside you are fuck all use to me.”
. @daraobriain was superb in the Marquee. Brilliant gig. But Jaysus, I didn't know we had to bring a gift! #youhadtobethere #LATM15
— Steve Neville (@SteveNeville_) July 3, 2015
He need not have worried.
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