Review by Steve Bennett

Billed as three shows in one, this is a disappointingly patchy performance from an experienced entertainer.

For the first part, we get straight, old-fashioned gags with punchlines. These are amusing enough ­ and so they should be, as they've been tried and tested by Moloney over the years.

These well-crafted one-liners are well worth hearing. But if you've seen his act at any time over the last few years, you will be left disappointed at the minimal amount of new material.

For the second part of the act, we get what Maloney bills as dark, observational humour ­ which seems an excuse for not getting any laughs rather than a genuine description of the routine.

What he actually does is wheel out some geriatric topical humour - Princess Di's death, anyone? ­ to sustain his feeble idea that all the world's events are merely a soap opera for watching aliens. Is there room for one more in the Scientology bus?

This section does finish on an excellent and perfectly-delivered gag about the sanctity of sperm, sadly unrelated to the previous 20 minutes of drivel.

Finally comes the musical section of the night, featuring a lively, virtuoso performance on, of all things, the accordian.

This routine contains perhaps the biggest laugh of the evening: "The definition of a gentlemen is someone who knows how to play the accordianyet chooses not to."

It's a shame the line, acknowledged as an Oscar Wilde quotation, is more than 100 years old.

Review date: 1 Jan 2000
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett