Gary Delaney: Purist
"What I like about that joke," says Gary Delaney, "is that people turn to each other and say 'oboe'. Even Derren Brown can't do that."
If Derren Brown ever did need to direct an audience into muttering the name of a musical instrument just to help everyone get up to speed with what's going on on-stage, he'd no doubt overlook the humble one-liner. Yet Delaney proves that a joke can cast a better spell on an audience than the more elaborate tricks of the illusionist's tool-kit.
It takes courage to become a comedian. Gary Delaney also has the courage of his convictions. He's a comedian who enjoys sitting in his office honing one-liners and then delivering them to an audience. There are no themes or narratives – Delaney has distilled comedy to just the jokes. Then again, all that story stuff would seem like decoration tonight. Is this, then, comedy at its purest? Does it challenge the usual ideas of what's needed to constitute a full-show? Most fortunately, and as interesting as these questions are, the night was too distractingly funny to think them over.
Someone trumped in The Stand on this particular evening. Though the culprit was not found, it started somewhere near the front row and lingered long enough to turn Caimh McDonnell's rousing support slot into a full internal investigation. This was followed by some nice references to Edinburgh being home to so many great crime and mystery writers. It would take more than a stale fart to halt the momentum of this show.
A highlight of the night is watching how much both artists are enjoying themselves. Another is hearing laughter seem to echo around the room. As jokes rely on shared knowledge of the set-up, and because Delaney's joke topics have such range, the same members of the audience can anticipate a punchline with one joke but on the next catch on a second or two later. Or perhaps the laughter will only arrive when someone turns to them and says the word 'oboe.'