Review by Steve Bennett

Review

Better than my dad? Nonsense, says cheery Manxman Rob Heeney not long into the hour. Well, that'll be the show over, then

Not really, of course. This isn't one of those heavily themed Edinburgh hours, but instead an hour-long stand-up set, clumped loosely around a train of thought about the differences between the generations.

Heeney is in his mid-thirties, but still pretty much an overgrown teenager with few responsibilities: no house, no girlfriend, and a career as a circuit comic that's no real job for an adult. In contrast, his dad at that age was settled with a wife and children.

Yet his dad thinks Heeney is successful because he went to university and middle class because he's eaten hummus. But even though we have more things nowadays, we're less generous of spirit.

This isn't a sociological thesis, mind, and the upbeat Heeney allows himself to stray into anything he believes to be funny. Even his preamble discusses 'throwing a sickie' rather than setting up the concept.

But it doesn't matter. Heeney is a brisk, engaging presence, with a confident gift of the gab that displays his material to good advantage. What he says about his life, his relationship break-up and his attitudes to everything from 4x4 drivers to an annoying runt he met on the Isle of Man ferry isn't intended to shake the foundations of comedy, but it's generally entertaining stuff ­ illustrated with more than a few good gags.

Some routines are slightly laddish in their take on shagging, practical joking and drinking, but it's told in the spirit of self-awareness, so they're not a turn-off. And the fact that everything is couched, however distantly, in terms of his relationship with his father, gives the material a charmingly softer edge.

It's a well put-together show, and while some segments could be punchier, does serve to demonstrate that there's more to Heeney than the banter that makes him in regular demand as a compere
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Steve Bennett

Review date: 1 Jan 2006
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett