Jarlath Regan: The Audacity of Hope and the Inspirational Stupidity of Perseverance

The Celtic tiger has used up its nine lives and Ireland is suffering. Irish comedian Jarlath Regan has swapped his homeland’s recession for the less brutal British one, moving his family to London in order to find work. Now he is wondering whether this was monumentally brave or inspirationally stupid.

The big hearted, affable Regan certainly has a wealth of tight, well observed material. Considering the number of Fringe shows filled with stroppy teenage cynicism or disingenuous emotion, Regan is refreshingly sincere, talking passionately about his love for his family and even his sympathy towards hecklers. The sentiment is understated, yet this is a man trying to provide for his family, aware that to make it in the big city he will have to toughen up as a person and as a comedian.

It must be said that this lack of bite means this isn’t as funny as it could be; his subjects are solidly delivered but all too familiar, including rubbish TV shows and the view of Irish people in other countries. On this last point, Regan does offer some startling insight into how bad things have got in post-bailout Ireland and, again, his everyman persona helps makes this affecting.

It isn’t exactly hilarious, but Regan is certainly a thoroughly pleasant man with whom to spend an hour. He certainly has a lot of hope and optimism, but the comedy is hardly audacious.