Review: David O’Doherty/Tim Key

Other comedians must blanch a little when they discover that the compere for their show is Ed Gamble. He’s too darned good. With an act made up entirely of ad-libbing banter sparked from audience interaction, Gamble managed both to warm up the crowd faster than a microwave and to engender a sense of community amongst the 1,400 people packed into Bristol Comedy Garden’s Big Top. He’s a comedian worth making a journey to see.

James Acaster’s act was rather stymied by the warm togetherness that the compere encouraged. Acaster’s laid-back stage persona is a somewhat sour one, launching slow-burn gags with a bitter twist. This works fine with his extended stories celebrating the mundanity of life, but when he attempted to engage members of the audience with some barbed jibes, we all huddled together to protect one of our own. When you’re performing alongside Ed Gamble, it may be best to skip the audience-interaction thing.

Tim Key is a surreal poet. This means that he delivers short poems full of odd imagery. It also means that watching him involves the surreal experience of seeing half the audience doubled up with laughter while the other half wonders “why?”.  

A total disconnect that goes way beyond “I can see how it could be funny, but it doesn’t tickle me” into the zone of “which of these words could possibly make a human being laugh?”. If anyone merits the label of a Marmite comedian, it is the thunderously unfunny/totally hilarious Tim Key.

But there’s no need for yeast-based spread metaphors with David O’Doherty. Looking, in his own words, exactly like a Chris O’Dowd who has let himself go, O’Doherty dominates the stage with self-deprecating charm, energy and a small Yamaha keyboard. Music is a very small part of his act, and serves more as a backdrop than a vehicle for the comedy. He delivers the distinctively Irish form of offbeat humour that glories in the deadpan surreal, the gag with a twist, the joke that’s left hanging for a fraction of a second and then delivers a roar of audience laughter. And unlike Key and Acaster, O’Doherty raised the canvas roof, a justified headline act.

Bristol Comedy Garden is an excellent opportunity to see some top-class talent.  Admittedly, the Big Top is Very Big, and from the cheaper seats the comedians do look awfully small. It is also a tent with limited ventilation, which means that the combination of summer sunshine and collective body heat does turn it into what O’Doherty described as ‘bikram comedy’. But there’s a well-staffed bar, and food and free entertainment in Queens Square before and after the show. Overall, it’s exactly the sort of excellent comedy festival you’d expect Bristol to stage.

David O’Doherty, Tim Key and James Acaster played Bristol Comedy Garden 2015 on Friday, July 10. For more forthcoming comedy lineups, visit www.bristol247.com/channel/whats-on/comedy-01