Review by Steve Bennett

Deb isn’t instantly dislikeable and has a reasonable delivery, but his material makes no concessions for those with no previous knowledge of his world. From the start, it felt like accidentally walking into a Trekkie convention and by the end, it was like listening to someone reading a car manual aloud.It may as well have been in Chinese for all the sense it made to me.

To people who understand this scene, the jokes may well have been fairly funny (there were a couple of women near the front who seemed to get it) but with almost everything a reference to games, novels or characters not put into any context, you really do need to know the subject.

Deb’s shtick is that he’s a 30-something geek who works in a bookshop and still lives at home with his mother. It’s a premise that could work well in more competent hands.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t exaggerate it into any level of comedy and what you get is the dull and socially inept monologue of a genuine 30-something geek who works in a bookshop and lives at home with his mother. It’s about as funny as being stuck in a lift with one.

He has a few gags more suitable for general consumption, but they’re not good enough to make up for the other 90 per cent that leave you cold.

Deb seems a nice guy and the show is free, but it came as a surprise that he didn’t get some vicious heckling for this. Perhaps everyone was just too bored to bother.

Reviewed by: Nione Meakin

Review date: 1 Jan 2007
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett