Tiernan Douieb is an interesting comedian. The comedy he creates is the kind of happy and good natured political conversation you would hear at your local pub. His humour is both safe and friendly. This is both an advantage and a weakness for the fresh-faced performer. For the first time in his life, Douieb is angry. This is because of small political problems that have been irritating him over the past year. The checklist is all here: bankers, the AV referendum, the public service issues and politics in general. This material has all been done before in much smarter ways, but I’m not sure that it has ever been done so nicely. Even safer than this was Douieb’s starting bit about turning 30. This included making noises when you sit down. I’m not really sure I need to keep describing it. This show taught me one new thing. The Danish word ‘Kvajebajer’ which can be translated as ‘a beer for when things go wrong’. This amazing word will be entering my vocabulary as soon as possible.Unfortunately, Douieb’s safe humour, while lovely, comes across as bland. The frustration that he has for modern political systems comes across as world weary and appealing rather than genuinely convincing. When Douieb makes a reference to Time-Team, we know that any chance of new ground is lost. This is not to say that Douieb is a bad performer, and I would love to get a beer with him, but this show is simply average. Oh well, Kvajebajer.
