one4review | On 27, Aug 2026

Early on in Tilting at Windmills, John Kearns despairs about the fact that 2020 was supposed to be the difficult year; with the backdrop of a global pandemic, it surely couldn’t get much worse. In this show, Kearns shares the details of the past year of his life that have made the misery of 2020 pale in comparison, mining it for the comedy gold as only the best stand-ups can do.

Kearns is 39 and living at his parents’ house following the end of a 12-year relationship with the mother of his young son. Trying to find a new home of his own has brought a new character into his life: 21-year-old estate agent Connor, who features heavily in some of the show’s highlights as Kearns describes their email exchanges or standing shoeless in a horrible flat with each other. However, the most important running thread of this show comes from his story about attending a walking tour inspired by TS Eliot’s The Waste Land (despite him revealing he’s never read it). Kearns includes clips of Alec Guinness reading the poem in between tales from the year, including his first trip to the supermarket with his mum as an adult and his difficulty trying to record a birthday message for an 18-year-old fan.

Just looking at his signature tonsure monk wig and fake teeth, perhaps you would assume the comedy to be silly and gimicky — an assumption which could not be further from the case. Instead it allows a freedom and poignancy to Kearns’s performance, and his writing proves a real knack for finding both the funny and the poetry in mundanity and adversity. Even in addressing well-trodden topics in comedy, he has such singular observations and turns of phrases which make him such a memorable performer.

4.5 stars ****.5
Reviewed by Niamh
Monkey Barrel 3 at Monkey Barrel Comedy
Until 30th August
16:15 – 17:15