Show Rating:

Conventional wisdom suggests you need themes and structure to sustain an hour-long stand-up show. You need to vary the pace, with ups and downs, light and shade to give the feeling of texture and depth.

Dara O'Briain just tore up the rule book.

For this is a full-throttle, 200mph experience, as the inspired Irishman breathlessly leaps from topic to topic, rattling off rock-solid gags and piercing observations with astonishing abandon.

No gimmicks for this man - even a microphone would too flash. This is 100 per cent, grade A, pure uncut stand-up - and it's simply brilliant. Just strap yourself in and enjoy the white-knuckle ride.

Subject matter veers wildly but seamlessly from football to theoretical physics, from immigration to his grandmother's role in the Irish War of Independence. Dozens more topics were touched upon, but, to be honest, I was too busy laughing to be writing them down.

That's what he does - reduces audiences to helpless mirth through sheer talent, from the word-perfect writing to that relentless delivery that demands attention.

It's impossible to pigeon-hole him as an observational comic, or a satirist, or any other genre you care to mention. He's simply an astonishingly funny comic, hitting scorching form.

In fact, he's so white-hot that a taste of bottled water would surely be welcome, if you catch my drift.