Comedy: Dara O' Briain

Tonight, delighted to have managed a cheap ticket for Dara O' Briain! See, he's touring later in the year, but was doing this warm-up show in the Pleasance Theatre.. sold out weeks ago. I jumped at the chance as soon as I heard of it.. and that actually promised to be funny, unlike last night. Booked to eat at The Depot beforehand. They had a low standard to live up to, again compared with last night.

Off I headed, fairly promptly, from work, bag on back. D'you know, every single time today I've gone to catch a bus, I've arrived as (at least) one I could've taken was pulling away - but there's always been another in time. I took the #29 this evening - from its terminus, as it happened. So I had a good choice of seats - and boy, was that to prove an advantage, it got so busy during the journey! Handily, the person beside me was getting off where I was, which made it a bit easier to squeeze off. My route to the pub took me down backstreets through estates that looked vaguely familiar - I'm sure I've taken this route to the Pleasance before!

Well, The Depot turns out to be right next door to the Pleasance - of course, I must have realised that when I booked it, but it was months ago. I had to go down the end to find a door that opened - and it's a barn of a place, a bare wooden floor, a mezzanine, and plenty of tables. I grabbed a staff member, who immediately told me where my table was - no need to book tonight, it seemed. Actually, I later discovered you can order pizza to the theatre bar - indeed, I saw some arrive while I was there - but of course, I'm not a fan of pizza. Here, I had a look at the menu, decided on the chicken schnitzel, and went up to the bar to order. Ah, the joys of not having to wait all night to do so..! Much friendlier staff than last night, too. And it was cheaper.

It was tasty - the dips with it weren't up to much, just ketchup and regular mayo, but the ketchup went well with the chunky chips. I tell you something - a lady over the side had a greyhound, very fetchingly dressed in a yellow doggy coat for the cold, and boy, was that dog interested in my dinner! He just kept coming over, coming over - chin on my lap, sad doggy eyes.. Twice, he tried to climb onto the table and I had to restrain him, which did bring her over. She did finally take him onto her lap - until I was finished eating at least, after which he still came over, but wasn't half as interested..

I'd have stayed on - and indeed, the wine was tastier, and cheaper, than in the theatre bar - but I didn't want to leave it too long to go over. I had a niggling cough, so popped into the convenience store across the road for some lozenges before I went up. Sure enough, heading over nearly an hour early proved a good idea, as I got a seat in the bar - they were all gone by half an hour before showtime. Heading into the show, we just had to transfer our drinks into plastic.

Lovely, cafe-style seating - no wonder it sold out! Oh, and I was so gorgeously near the stage..

As I remarked to the lady who was sat at the table with me, this was the closest I'd be to him since I was in his class in college! She was there with her son, who was worried about being so close.. she assured him that we were far enough back. Well, what was she gonna say?

No warm-up act, no mc - Dara performed that function for himself in this pared-back show. Indeed, not even his mic was working at the beginning, a stage hand had to nip up and turn it on while he tried to distract us. Well, as usual, he started his set by chatting with audience members - and wouldn't you know it, he was asking the guy beside that lady's son (Joel, his name turned out to be), a question - and Joel answered, thinking he was talking to him! Which, Lordy me, made him the focus of Dara's attention from then on. As she remarked to me afterwards - he having headed on in front - for someone who suffers from anxiety, he did very well! In fact, Dara made a point of finishing the show with a bit directed at him, which she was quite justified in filming - as she said to me, no-one would believe it..

Was he funny? Was he hell. He can't help but be. There was an Irishwoman in the front row, whom he had a good bit of banter with - and my, if he didn't have an Irish-themed joke for us. He did explain the bit of Irish that was the punchline - but of course, it was easy to spot the Gaeilgeoirí (Irish speakers) from those of us that laughed before the explanation!

At the interval, I went to the loo - unisex, which is fine, the problem being that each toilet has an individual cistern, which means if you go in right after someone, there's no water to flush with.. after that, I headed to the bar, where there was an unfortunate combination of a huge crowd, and really slow bar staff. It finally got to the point where they gave us a five-minute warning, and I was still in the queue when they warned that if we stayed to be served, we'd miss the first few minutes of the second half. So a number of us gave up - seriously, who (especially as close to the stage as I was) is going to come into a comedy show late..? Asking for trouble.

Most of the show - in a kind of sequel to his show about finding his birth mother - was actually the most hilarious sequence, in fact, of stories about finding his birth father! not to mention a host of relatives he never knew he had. In general, he ramped up the intensity of the laughs in the second half - I seriously thought I'd die laughing. Ah, it's a long time since I laughed so hard at anything. He's always terrific - I'm just so glad I managed to get to this.

Tomorrow, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend. Where the film looks like to be A Complete Unknown, a Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet, with Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, another singer with an activist bent, who backed Dylan until they had a falling-out, and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, with whom Dylan had an on-off relationship. They do say it's a perfectly vague depiction of an unknowable man. Showing widely - I'm thinking of Ennis for it. Ironically, Movie Roadhouse London is going the same day, in London! Happens so often..

On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for Tarantula, at the Arcola.

On Tuesday, I'm back with CT for Stage Time, the improvised comedy show at Shoreditch Balls. Eating at The Blues Kitchen Shoreditch beforehand.. ooh, looking forward to that!

With the film list out nice and early for once, on Wednesday I'm off to see All We Imagine as Light, at last - showing in the BFI. I booked, because it was selling out. Set in Mumbai, it describes the relationship between two female roommates of different ages, and their different experiences of love. And sensibly, I'm going back to The Archduke for food.

Next, two Meetup days in a row - I have none this week! Next Thursday, I'm heading to A Good House, at the Royal Court, with UITCS - eating in Cote Sloane Square beforehand. Whose service speed had improved, the last couple of times I was there - let's see whether they can keep the side up.

And on the 24th, I decided to accompany The Hideout to see Presence! Venue TBD. Well, it doesn't have a terrific rating, but neither does it have a bad one - and the trailer looks good.

On the 25th, back with the Crick Crack Club at King's Place, for The Three Snake Leaves, with Hugh Lupton, Ben Haggarty, and Sally Pomme Clayton - music by Sheema Mukherjee. Accompanied by my sometime companion from UITCS. Potentially meeting Ivan for a late-night drinking session afterwards - TBD.

On the 26th, two Meetup groups I haven't been with in an age - in the morning, I'm headed with London Literary Walks for a parade commemorating the execution of Charles I! Never heard of it, but apparently it's a thing. We're meeting at The Red Lion, Crown Passage.

And in the evening, I'm back with Buddies on Budgets in London, for the Winter Lights show in Canary Wharf.

Finally, on the 27th, I'm back at King's Place for a Kirckman Society concert by the Paddington Trio. It'll be good to get back to classical music, it's been too long..