It’s hard to overstate the extent to which Dan Tiernan owns a room. Things happen to Tiernan, even on a Sunday night: crowd reactions, set-ups, coincidences sent by a higher power. Except they aren’t from God. When you whip a room into a frenzy the way Tiernan does, and maintain such a tight hold of your structure, pace and tone, you’ve really made your own luck. As a performer, the guy is bombproof.
Except, Tiernan really isn’t bombproof. He’s got quite a few problems and, ostensibly, All In is his attempt to sort them out, using a “system” he devised. Without wishing to ruin the surprise (or maybe the descent), it’s fair to say that “the system” is very much part of the problem. It’s a specialty of Tiernan’s, the long range bait and switch. He walks us down the path of a sly, sideways conceit to talk about something tricky, and ends up in hand to hand combat with it. “You want men to talk about their mental health?” he screams at one point. “This is what it looks like!”
For a stand-up who excels at giving the impression of barely-managed spontaneity, there’s a bit of theatricality towards the end of All In which makes for quite a tonal shift. But it’s pretty forgivable for an artist taking risks to mine jokes from the most unlikely seams.
Dan Tiernan: All In, Monkey Barrel Comedy, until 24 Aug (not 11), 10.25pm