Stand-up comedians are generally friendly. They interact with their public, make jokes about the audience and their living habits or looks, and also talk about their own experiences in life. They also tend to be really self-conscious, obsessive, eccentric, and with low self-esteem. That’s mainly where they get their big laughs, poking fun at themselves. Barrie has a lot to poke at. At the end of the day, he is bald and ginger.
Though Alistair Barrie’s shows tries to talk about things we take for granted in life, he doesn’t really follow his own routine and ends up rambling about different things, i.e. global warming, tornados in London, the Bush-Blair relationship, his own divorce, sex… But this is not bad, as Barrie’s strengths lie not in his pre-planned act, which falls a bit flat and hits way off the line sometimes (joking about blacks, gays and Bush feels very much like a been there, done that territory), but on his on the spot improvisation. Barrie is quick witted, funny and entertaining when he plays with the audience, and his impressions of the different nationalities and accents work a treat. The public responds to these, and the laughs just keep coming.
Barrie feels very much like one of your drinking mates, who at the start of the night are all hilarious and sharp, fun to be around, but who, after some drinks, can become annoying with their everyday rehearsed jokes. But then again, we always love those friends at the beginning of a night out.
3/5
Adrian G. Velazquez
