Patrick Monahan has reflected upon his Iranian heritage throughout his stand-up career. Yet it’s been a long time since it was this timely, with the US and Iran currently trading hostilities. Similarly, for the greying but still admirably puppyish, people-pleasing comic, there’s uncharacteristic grit in his account of how his grandmother panicked and smuggled the infant Monahan out in a suitcase during the Revolution. And how, after his family settled on Teeside, they were subjected to prejudice and he acquired the playground nickname The Terrorist.
This is all relative though. Monahan would much rather espouse about the sticky nature of adolescent nicknames generally than linger too long on history and geopolitics. There’s a slightly bizarre segue into arguably the high-water mark of his celebrity, appearing on ITV’s diving show Splash! with Tom Daley. The justification for mentioning Freddie Mercury in the show’s title is perfunctorily bolted on at its end. And despite being on the scene for the 7/7 terrorist bombings in London in 2005, he fails to properly convey the gravity of the situation, notwithstanding circumstances that meant he was indisposed. Never less than affable and with a solid store of anecdotes, Monahan still takes long walks up to the gags. And you feel he’s squandered his experience when there was a much punchier, harder-hitting show within his grasp.
Patrick Monahan: I’m Not A Terrorist – I’m Freddie Mercury, Gilded Balloon Patter House, until 30 Aug (not 17), 9pm