DVD: Dara O'Briain Talks Funny - Live In London, (15), Universal Pictures Ltd.
As Dara O'Briain says himself, if a funny anecdote falls flat, there's only one thing you can say: "You had to be there".
And much the same is probably true of this DVD.
It's fun, it's fine and it's enjoyable, but it's nowhere near as funny as you somehow hope it is going to be.
O'Briain is an engaging performer, likable and never crude - despite liberal use of the f-word.
And he offers some great laughs with tales of naked men outside his hotel room, tales of strange creations on his hotel bed and tales of the dreaded "hotel turn-down team".
But none of it is tears-streaming-down-your-face, please-stop-now-it's-hurting type humour.
It gets off to a sluggish start, there's too much reference to the DVD he knows he's making and the chat with randomly-selected audience members might be clever, but it's also flat, giving the whole show an uneven quality as he moves between improv and well-rehearsed tales.
But the audience are clearly enjoying it - enjoying something which equally clearly doesn't quite come across on DVD.
As he man himself says, "You had to be there."
Phil Hewitt
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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