Marc Maron & Kirk Fox

Just taking a brief glimpse at Kirk Fox’s press release, one phrase stands out: "He’ll make you laugh, cry, think, wonder if he’s really a comic." While the first three items in this list can be classed as hyperbole (or what we in the trade call "lies"), the last is entirely accurate.

Kicking off with a few gay jokes and a bit about dolphins being dangerous, the Californian’s material is far from revolutionary and barely amusing. Achieving few laughs of any description, Fox seems not to have made any attempts to improve the drive and flow of his set for the less clap-happy audiences this side of the pond.

Fellow Californian, Marc Maron introduces himself as "an angry Jew with a beard." And it is in this vein of Comedy Central, 1980’s humour that the set continues. If you’ve ever watched Late Night with Conan O’Brian or The Late Show with David Letterman and wondered how such dull programming manages to attract any audience at all, please bear in mind that Maron has been an occasional act on both of these monoliths before you consider buying a ticket to see him.

With subjects ranging from how much he hates children to "how did we survive without cellphones?" Maron’s boring and formulaic humour fails to induce any enjoyment. Indignant at the lack of laughs, the American blames Scottish reserve before pouncing on the only audience member who seems to be enjoying herself and asking why we all can't be like her. After establishing that the lady is Irish, Maron is thus provided with the magical hammer that ultimately enables him to seal his own coffin from the inside: "Irish? You fuckers will laugh at anything."

Describing his material as "dark, weird shit," Maron takes inspiration from his younger compatriot in mixing a couple of lies with the truth.