Keyboard to his success: David O'Doherty
Ah, it’s David O’Doherty, the scruffy keyboard-playing comedian prone to hilarious bursts of impotent rage who - in his own words at the start of this show - looks like a cross between “the guy from Quantum Leap and ALF the Alien”.
Though he lack that fictional pair’s extra-special abilities, O’Doherty’s comedy is a curious but winning mix, claiming the If.comedy award a couple of years ago. As such it’s little surprise that, since his last appearance at the Fringe, his main achievements seem to have been noting things about that tick him off (for use in a delightfully bratty song) and also co-writing a book of 100 made-up panda facts.
It’s also fitting that his mini-sized keyboard is propped up on a chair under a spotlight before O’Doherty takes to the stage, as though it’s the real star of the show.
Before long he’s launched into a duet that was supposed to have been performed with Shakira had she shown up, and let’s be honest, his impression of her infamously quivering vocal style isn’t going to win him any Grammys (or even a round of applause at a karaoke night).
Mind you, it does achieve its primary purpose of provoking gales of laughter from the attendant audience, the song detailing a love affair between the pair, a romance left unrequited as the only way to spend time with each other would be to “tour together, and that’d be shit”. Personally, I think the sheer spectacle of them onstage together might compete for arena spectacle of the century; well, at least until Lady GaGa and Ken Dodd co-headline their own tour, anyway.
This apparently O’Doherty’s 11th time at the Fringe, but his first playing in a venue of such spacious size - he’s performing in a packed-to-capacity Pleasance One - it’s business as usual on the comedy front. He’s soon railing against the overuse of superlatives - especially by the users of YouTube - and detailing a vain attempt to reason with his ex using logic, as ranting about a particular terrible radio interview that he found himself in.
Constantly self-deprecating, it’s fitting that the musically talented comedian’s attempt at writing a monster anthem to finish transmogrified into an understated ditty entitled We Are Not the Champions, and that he intentionally imposes lulls in his set so that he can lift the atmosphere by reeling off another absurd animal “fact”.
Tailing off slightly towards the end, there’s now a cosy familiarity which potentially undermines his efforts, O’Doherty working better as something of an outsider looking in (as many comedians do). But then, what’s so bad about being cherished by a wider audience? The Irish comedian deserves to be lauded for his lucky charms, even if he can’t yet time travel, or hasn’t (to our knowledge so far) crashed into our world from another planet entirely. Appearances can be deceptive, and on this occasion that’s no bad thing.
Somewhere Over the David O'Doherty is on until August 30 at Pleasance One, Pleasance Courtyard.
