Paul McCaffrey can very much be categorised as an observational comedian. This in itself is not necessarily a problem but considering that comics of this ilk have become, in the last decade, as ubiquitous as Simon Cowell and happy-slapping results in the unavoidable fact that it is an extremely competitive environment. What makes it even more difficult is that observational comedians aim to derive humour out of everyday phenomena that, crucially, are common to almost everyone. In this way, so that they can strike a chord with a large audience, there isn’t actually a huge amount of material that these great masses of observational comedians can utilise. They all try their hand at similar topics and the cream tends to rise to the top.As I say, McCaffrey throws his hat into this ring. We hear musings on online banking, telesales and other familiar topics. Furthermore, he engages in predictable patter with the audience about jobs and where they come from et cetera on top of the obligatory ridiculing of his own appearance. These assessments and appraisals of the world we live in are often humourous but they are achingly run of the mill and can be seen performed just as well, and often better, on Dave repeats for the rest of recorded time. Indeed, McCaffrey (whose mannerisms make him seem like a poor man’s southern Jason Manford) does have some material that works particularly well and has a whiff of originality. His judgement on ‘when banter goes bad’ resonates but these moments are far too few and far between. In all, McCaffrey ticks the observational boxes but these jokes simply don’t shake my sense that he merely cuts the figure of a McIntyre tribute act.
