By Eve Cheesmur

Date / Venue: Saturday August 29th, 2015 - ASB Theatre, Auckland

It only seems just to be polishing off a bottle of red wine while writing the review for Dylan Moran. Black Books had me chortling with laughter through the 90's with delight at the preposterously drunken and witty trio in which Dylan made his comedic debut.

At the time, I remember thinking to myself what a splendid setting the TV series was portrayed in, and how perfectly timed and obscure the jokes were. To my delight, some of my 20's were spent in a very similar fashion. If I could summons the drunken memories to pertain to the the stories in which to regale you with, I would.

So, tonight set in the colossal Aotea Theatre, the Irish comic genius took to the stage for his ‘Off The Hook' performance, and there were a few laughs to be had... for sure, for sure, for sure.

It was a bit of a surprise to be greeted by Mr Moran, of once slight build, now rather tubby. He still held the Irish charm however, and had a full set of hair to accompany his one pack. Pans out, the gaining of weight was due to him quitting cigarettes and leading a ‘healthier' more balanced life (which might have involved binge eating), however it was a bit of a disappointment to see him stub out his reckless ways for which I had admired him so much for in my younger years.

The first half of his set was a tad cynical - which I have to admit, I rather enjoy in humour... and to be fair so did the rest of the audience. Moran had certainly researched New Zealand and topically touched on political issues in his analogy and simile driven style. John Key apparently looks like how general people look when listening to politics, whereas Labours' Andrew Little was described to look more like a burst bag of chips, constantly surprised, as if someone had delivered him the wrong meal continuously at a restaurant.

The jokes were relevant and perfectly executed.

Entering into the second half of the show Dylan recognised his slightly cynical tangent and decided to touch on more light hearted humour around the home and how his life had changed becoming a father, with the usual play on the difference between sexes. Nothing was cliche however, his thoughts and insight were impeccable. There was magic in the way he drivelled in almost a drunken flurry, but everything he said was poignant and although they seemed ad-lib in style, there was clearly some serious thought underneath each quip.

The two hour set finished with Dylan addressing the redundancy of effort it takes to walk off stage, only to be encored on again... (yeah, were were all intending to bring him back for an encore), so instead he stayed to give the audience his rendition of a modern age erotica story.

Pure comic gold.

I left with my cheeks in pain from a shit eating grin and a belly full of laughs.

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