4 Stars

****

In his fourth year at the Fringe, Jarlath Regan’s brand of conversational and intelligent humour is a popular attraction from the evidence of a packed house. This is not surprising for the audience is provided with an hour of sustained humour.

He admitted that his 30^th birthday is looming up and it is a time to take stock of his life.  He gave his take on the useful, the ‘not useful’ and the profound. This varies from good advice to the bizarre. He engaged the audience with some good natured banter. Finding by chance an employee of BP sitting near to couple of Americans was too good an opportunity not to exploit.

Continuing on the reflective theme, he moved on to his experiences in his first year of marriage. This, for me, is when he excelled in the variety of his comedy; snappy one liners, the facial expressions of partners and his story of attending a compulsory pre–marriage course in his native Ireland along with his wife to be.

His show might be titled ‘Not So Common Sense’ but he does impart much common sense with an easy charm and a sharp wit.

Reviewed by Ben

Venue; Venue Number – Gilded Balloon Teviot; V14

Dates – 4 to 30 August 2010 (not 16)

Times – 18.45 to 19.45

Fringe Programme Page Number: 75