Quarehawk

He’s STILL the motherf*cking D.O.D !

If you ever get a pain in your gluteals from watching the standard “Worldly Observer In Jeans” comedic persona, then crazy-haired David O’Doherty could be just the man for you. Not that he doesn’t make worldly observations or wear jeans, obviously he does. But he has incorporated other bizarre and whimsical additions into his act that might tickle your funny bone (your nervus ulnaris as it were - yeah what? I bought a medical dictionary! Fuck you).

On a laughably shoddy Vicar Street set which he says he made himself, O’Doherty’s gone a bit Harry Hill tonight for this latest show, with his supporting cast of a pixie, someone in a dolphin costume, and a team of “Robot Butlers”. The man is mad. It’s hard to imagine him being anything other than a comedian.

[These cartoons are becoming mildly deranged. Don't think I don't know it. I should probably look into taking some classes or something]

Who else besides David O’Doherty would try to use emoticons at the end of their SPOKEN sentences? He does this by contorting his face into the various :) :( and :o.

But that was just the relaxing check-shirted low-energy first half, following along a set-list which he’d arranged to have handed out to punters at the door. Part one was brought to a close by the appearance of the pixie and the giant dolphin. Seriously. It seemed normal at the time.

The fact is - seasoned fans go to David O’Doherty for the songs, and after the break and a change of clothes (no sartorial improvement though) it’s straight into it …

He bounds around between a couple of tiny casio-type keyboards and one large electric piano. He’s got a song about his “Very Mild Superpowers” and one where the lyrics are made up entirely of text messages. Smart and funny. And one faintly tragic ditty sung to his old friend who’s made a success of her life, where he tells a load of hilarious lies about what he’s achieved so as not to look bad. Dear Jesus I hope we don’t find out someday that David O’Doherty is in fact a deeply unhappy man, a manic depressive or some such. A comedic cliche.

You could make an argument that comedy songs are among the lower forms of humour. On the grounds that they’re just too easy. This is why so many hack comedians fish out a guitar for their final wrap-up bit. Take a simple threadbare non-joke like “Sometimes we text the wrong person” and stretch that out into a song and you can be fairly certain of laughs. But O’Doherty (Like Bill Bailey) has taken this to another level, each of his songs full of jokes and surprise turns.

These compositions of his don’t always scan well or rhyme exactly, and David O’Doherty is no vocalist. But then I suppose there’s no point. Because he can’t re-use his musical numbers forever like a normal musician. No-one goes to a comedy gig and shouts “Do the old stuff”. Although they should in his case - because there are classics in his back catalogue (eg “The FAQ Of The DOD”).

O’Doherty recently turned down a promotional spot on the Late Late Show, due to his distaste for the scripted nature of the interviews. I can see his point here. I’d noticed it particularly with Tommy Teirnan’s last Late Late appearance. Pat Kenny’s “questions” were all obvious feedlines into well-rehearsed monologues. I can understand the need for some planned format especially for a live chat show, but there’s such a thing as making it look TOO fucking rehearsed. We all know that interviews are mostly scripted, us sophisticated medical-dictionary-purchasing intellectuals, but we still enjoy the illusion that our comedians are spontaneous wits.

Looking at the state of David O’Doherty, up there in an ill-fitting shirt and too-short tie, capering like an eccentric geography lecturer, it’s easy to feel superior. But you’d be wrong - there’s a decent brain knocking about under the dead cat he seems to have glued to his scalp. Stepping on and off a piano stool, he sets about answering the big questions about life, and explaining his definitive list of the most humourous things in the world, while noting correctly that “boobs” is the funniest word ever, especially when you make a computer say it.

But here’s the real beauty of a D.O.D. performance - originality. He never bothers with any of the boring cliches we’re used to hearing in Irish comedy clubs. There’s no “Isn’t Ryanair crap?”, no “I grew up in a catholic family and my mother always used to blah blah blah …”, and not a word of “How Irish men are in the bedroom” or any of that type of tired old shit. This alone qualifies him for an award in my book.

I had intended to say that David O’Doherty refers to his own name in his act more than any hip-hop artist, but he went and made the very same point himself.

So you’ve got the thoughtful comedy, the surrealist cast, the songs and his own mad sense of style. Always fresh and inventive. Relaxingly paced and easy to like. What’s not to smile at?

Well maybe this one ….

“Who are the best people in a hospital?
“The ultra sound people”

Heh. I actually kinda like that groaner. You should use this joke at your next work meeting. Then everyone will think you’re great.