Alistair Barrie - Obviously

“High concept” comedy irritates Alistair Barrie. While that particular genre tends to be weighed down by its own pretentiousness, he’s happy to theme his act along an average-to-middling concept – if only to provide a title for this year’s show. Obviously is a trek through the opinionated yet extremely likeable mind of a man blighted by ginger facial hair and frustrated by the injustices of the world around him. His show revolves around the “pillars of obviousness”: political and social “facts” that Barrie believes should be highlighted because of the unswerving desire of the Daily Mail crowd to ignore them.

What follows is a gently snowballing rant against climate change deniers, tortured liberals and organised religion. After 20 minutes of disappointing build-up, peppered with a large number of *cough* obvious jokes, Barrie finally hits his desired tempo, then rockets off into some extremely acute personal and political observation. By this point, his concept has gone out the window, and Barrie’s simple honesty makes him both immensely charismatic and entirely convincing. It genuinely feels like you’re watching a different person for the second half, and the misjudged Maddy McCann joke and dragging obsession with “Britishness” of part one are quickly forgotten.

Barrie is dangling on the edge of the big-time. His delivery is flawless and he displays the occasional flash of incisive comedy, but he’s held back from the precipice by some poorly judged and well-trodden subject matter.