He’s world class, is our Danny. It’s the mark of genius when a comedian uses the unrelenting heckles of a ‘god-squad’ nutter from the back row, hell-bent on ruining the evening, to strengthened his show. She was evicted and Danny was left with 2,000+ fans cheering him on. It could’ve disrupted the whole evening, such was the power of her conviction, but Danny took it all with good grace, using one of the heckler’s many offers of "Jesus loves you, Danny" to give us some of the funniest material of the night. The way he then got back on track, by segueing from The Last Supper, to fancy restaurants, was sublime.

Anyway, back to the beginning.

When you venture to see Danny Bhoy, the hype starts as soon as you enter the venue… desperate women jostling in the queue, hoping for a ticket cancellation to gain entry to the sell out show ("I TOLD you we should’ve booked in April"), men equally high with anticipation but wary ("My girlfriend won’t stop talking about him which pisses me off, but apparently he’s brilliant"). Crikey, we’ve elevated this man to legend.

Rhod Gilbert of Wales warms us up with tales from back home (here comes the rain again) and losing his luggage, milking comedy out of every pore. It’s easy to like a comedian who compliments us Kiwis and bags the Aussies. 

But we’re here for Danny. Yup, He’s the man – intelligent, witty, handsome, confident and cool. So you’d expect a huge ego to walk on stage, but instead an amiable chap, at times with a hint of self-deprecation, enters the building.

He’s so very charming as he chats about his various observations and muses – hotel room mishaps, flash restaurants, small towns and their airports…. Yet he’s equally witty and entertaining, tackling the issues on the world stage – in fact he bills them as the theme for the evening: laughing at one’s own culture, national identity and religion.

But it’s not just the content that makes Danny so watchable, likable and popular. He has brilliant stage presence and craft. He effortlessly tosses accents, physicality and even that comedy black hole – mime – into his mix, enhancing what is already brilliant material.

It’s hard to pick the best moments, as the whole evening just snowballs into one big laugh… but needless to say, his unloved French triangle player, his twitchy chicken, his born-to-be-wild duck, the pony prancing Englishman, were all stand outs. Even though his flute player sounded like a constipated bassoon, and should’ve fallen flat, it soared.

Young Danny seems to have so much FUN up there, making his performance such a delight to watch. Please come back in 07. You are adored.

(PS -look after your throat – that Jon Toogood-inspired lead Bagpipe break has to be damaging to the vocal chords…)

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