Review: David O’Doherty live in Sydney
David O’Doherty returned to Sydney Comedy Festival last week. We sent Samantha Dickson along to check out his show:
Does this get good soon? A question often asked, albeit lightly. But in a world one hundred plus days into the Trump presidency, we find ourselves looking for light in the hope that life will in fact get good soon. Ever the realist about the onfire trash can that is modern living, David O’Doherty brought his self-described very low energy musical whimsy to the Enmore Theatre for a night of laughter.
Presenting Hopefully, a mix of stand-up and musical comedy, O’Doherty excels with his cynical and hilarious observations of millennial culture. Referring to the internet as a bed of lies, or in his own words “the shit pipe” in which tonnes of shit is spewed at him upwards of 40 times a day. He pokes fun of the archetypal Instagram illusions, and mentions his best friend online is far different to the real her in which she’s more inclined to take a shit behind a bin when not posting artsy pics of avocados.
The roasting of internet dishonesty doesn’t stop there. The cheeky Irishman waxes lyrical about the time he rubbed Ed Sheeran’s mic on his balls and tweeted about it, prompting a response from the singer himself. The discussion descended into O’Doherty’s real concern that he didn’t want Ed to fall pregnant from contact with the mic and in this exchange got an abundance of teenage follows with handles like @edfollowbackorillkillmyself. The internet is hell.
The gig goes well over an hour and seldomly falls flat. The endearing nature of O’Doherty is in his self-referential and open dialogue. He tells you of all the times the joke that just worked on you, fell to shit elsewhere. He takes part in audience discussion, and not the type that stops you from getting up to use the bathroom for fear of being skewered. Performing only a few songs on his electronic keyboard, the Dublin native keeps things light given topics like the dystopian rise of fascism in the world.
As the gig comes to a close, David asks “Does this get good soon? Hopefully.” But there was no danger of audience members peeping at their watches. It was a night that absolutely delivered and warranted two sold-out shows.
Check out what else is happening at Sydney Comedy Festival here and keep up to date with David on Twitter.
Review by Samantha Dickson.
