When Dara O'Briain was a student he was in the team that won the Irish Times National Debating Championship. Judging by his exhilarating performance last night it is easy to see why. This imposing storyteller has a brain that moves at lightning speed. Thank goodness he uses his galloping grey matter for fun rather than evil.
Hitting his stride immediately, the burly Dubliner explained that he considered calling his show You Should've Been There to encapsulate the idea of live comedy's in-the-moment thrill. The interactive improvised opening half certainly lived up to the rejected title, featuring fantastic banter with a banker, inspired innuendo with a proctologist and superb sarcasm aimed at a man who finds cables for a living.
The second more structured section was even better. O'Briain has a way of taking everyday irritations and slam-dunking them into hysteria-shaped baskets. Even when he was addressing mundane subjects such as macho razor blade names and house-buying or tackling that touring comedian's staple, the hotel visit, his anecdotes were dazzlingly, dizzyingly polished.
It is hard to mark O'Briain down. It was strange though, that one routine, about his mind going blank when trying to think of certain words, was both unconvincing - he could surely never be tongue-tied - and strikingly similar to a gag by Michael McIntyre.
But this is a rare quibble. Good shows get laughs, great shows get applause, O'Briain got cheers. His genius is not debatable.
Friday and Saturday (0844 8444 748, www.offthekerb.co.uk)
An Evening With Dara O Briain And Friends: Comedy Goes Wild
HMV Apollo
Queen Caroline Street, W6 9QH
