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Winner of the 2006 Laughing Horse new act competition, the 2007 Chortle Award for best newcomer and the 2007 Leicester Mercury Comedian Of The Year.

Carl Donnelly 3: Carl Donnelier
Live Review

Carl Donnelly could have called his show 'Dude Where's My Carl' but chose this rather more wordy banner after crowdsourcing suggestions on Twitter. It's an argument against social networking, perhaps, but the title is one of the few things wrong with this super show.

It turns out that Donnelly is actually quite sceptical of Twitter and its like, and he's rightly concerned that social media will stunt the storytelling capacity of young people. Perhaps if he were a one-liner merchant he might not be so concerned by this, but he's an engaging spinner of yarns and his concern, like so much of his performance, is genuine.

I don't know whether it is the image change that has seen Donnelly go from Hair Bear Bunch member to a young Rolf Harris, but the 29-year-old is sharper than I have ever seen him – and he was always pretty ‘bang on’, as he would say.

At the top of the show he spends a fair amount of time housekeeping, explaining his quirks and asking us to indulge him in his excitement at being with an audience as some days punters are the first people he sees. Donnelly is no over-excited pixie-ish stand up though, rather giggly and straightforward and canny enough to totally negate any disruption that could have come from two drunk members of his front row.

The scene-setting leads neatly into a section about spending time on his own and how he crafts jokes from, for example, seeing two films at the cinema and trying the same gag on two different staff, ‘a double bill joke’ he describes it as.

Whatever the room for exaggeration, Donnelly has the gift of making any scenario sound plausible - including stopping the traffic after an England victory in a World Cup game to making his Subway sandwich routine into a dance routine.

Among these yarns are some pure and simple observations, including his justified attack on a society so lazy that grapes, apples and pears have ended up part of the pre-packaged fruit range.

During this routine he decides that he has muddled the order and jokes about the shame of workshopping his show half-way through the festival. He's being a perfectionist and the reason why it is forgivable and even loveable is because he's done so much else right.

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Please play Liverpool, am desperate to see you live, the five-minute slots on Comedy Store are not long enough. Why have you not been on mainstream tv yet?

Al, July 2011

Such harsh words for Mr Bubbly. Think he is epic. Even his rape and pedophile jokes are funny.

Ellie, March 2011

This guy is rocking it like it is 1973.

Slim Thug # 2, March 2011

I’ve listened to Chris and Carl’s podcast and Chris is for sure the better talker and witty. Stand-Up is mediocre, with stories just being pub banter with seemingly no imagination put into his material, his greatest quality is his laidback (could also be misconstrued as lazy) style. Comes across as disingenuous with the self-depreciation, his stand-up has the appeal to the facebook generation which isn’t a bad thing. Think part of the earlier comment was fair.

Stephen Terrington, March 2011

I've seen some crap comedy in my time but Carl Donnelly is something else. Where's the structure? He should be a recruitment consultant with the number of questions he asked the audience. He should have been paying us by the end of the gig. But saying that some of his stories were funny. 4 out of 10.

Jeff, March 2011

Saw his Edinburgh preview in Darlington on Sunday. Carl is a natural entertainer, with some very good material. For my money he’s a must-see for Edinburgh this year.

Colin, July 2009

Just saw Carl's Edinburgh show preview and must say I was very impressed. Carl got off to a terrible start with a awful Hussain Bolt/Baby gag however, Carl's ability to adlib so well soon got him back on the audiences side and he soon had the room laughing with a very good set. A few tweeks here and there and this show should be well on its way to a lot of good reviews.

Craig Ratcliffe, June 2009

Saw Carl Bubbly in The Pavillion in Porthcawl. What a funny fella. Nearly got hysterical at one point I was laughing so much - it was the lettuce that nearly tipped me over the edge. Would go see him again anytime. Fab.

Ryn, June 2008

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