Dan Tiernan @ Monkey Barrel Comedy

Dan Tiernan’s latest hour Quartz and All proves the increasingly overused yet increasingly necessary Whitmanism that we ‘contain multitudes’. In Tiernan's case, this means being gay enough for the girlies to feel safe, whilst simultaneously being shouty and rowdy enough that the crowd is filled with mostly hooligans. Or looking like you might kill animals for fun, but instead actually only being a bit weird about them. Or being a non-snatchy phone robber. Or being completely horrified by the state of current affairs – the genocide, ceaseless civilian bombing in the Middle East, the climate catastrophe – whilst still maintaining a deep belief and enjoyment in the beauty and whimsy that the world (and specifically, its geodes) has to offer. In short, Tiernan and this hour has it all.

Is this surprising? No, not really, in the sense that in Tiernan’s shows the only pattern is unpredictability. There’s the usual 'theatre of cruelty' stuff that we’ve seen from him, delivered with hysteria-bordering mania. There’s also some classic good ol’ comedy tropes (a couple of callbacks for which the set-ups are so effortless that the crowd are genuinely delighted when they realise what he's up to), executed with his trademark confidence. But there’s also a more vulnerable, softer side to Quartz and All. Tiernan is lonely, despite his friends, and family, and rocks. He’s scared of slipping back into a psychosis, the last instance of which saw him try to [redacted]. He’s also, as mentioned, feeling pretty disenfranchised. 

Luckily for us, Tiernan seems to have found a (admittedly woo-woo) solution. It’s magic. Rocks and magic. And like any good magician Tiernan, through a contradictory and overt display of chaotic masculinity, manages to leave even the most stoic of audience members a little bit twinkly-eyed and wondering just how he did it. Try to catch this show while you can – Dan Tiernan is a real gem.

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Dan Tiernan: Quartz and All, Monkey Barrel Comedy (MB1), until 30 Aug (not 18), 10.25pm, £14.50-£17.50