Patrick Monahan - Feel the Love

Patrick Monahan delivers material with an endearing enthusiasm and ease: what could have been overused topics never fail to raise a laugh

Review by Thomas Kerr | 14 Aug 2007
I've not caught Patrick Monahan at his best – on the wettest, coldest day of an already wet and cold Festival (well, it is Scotland), Patrick's show is barely half full, and worse still, he sounds like a 60-a-day smoker thanks to a cracking sore throat.

Clearly, then, Monahan deserves credit for a stand-up routine which reveals him to be not just a fine comic but a genuinely affable character. Much of his material revolves around the tried and tested regional stereotype school of comedy (leading to yours truly, as the sole Glaswegian in the audience, being hauled on stage for a much-needed cuddle) but as he delivers it all with an endearing enthusiasm and ease what could have been overused topics never fail to raise a laugh.

Aside from his comedian's dream of an ethnic makeup (he's a half-Iranian, half-Irish Geordie) Patrick's material is nothing out of the ordinary: some light hearted audience participation in which he plays the part of Cilla Black trying to hook up two young members of the audience slides seamlessly in a wonderful description of 'emos' for the older audience (they've long necks and they're covered in feathers, get it?). But it's his enthusiastic and friendly nature which truly wins this audience over, and on a miserable day like today that's no mean feat.