Neil Delamere: DelaMere Mortal

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For all his fresh and clever scripted stuff, Neil Delamere never tops his rollicking first 10 minutes when the Irishman comes out all guns blazing, intent on warming up the crowd with some honest to goodness piss-taking. The six-foot-plus guy immediately in his eye-line? “Not you, you’re a big fucker.” The long-haired bloke from Glastonbury? “I look at you, and I think ‘yeah.’” The lady who “puts people on projects overseas”? “The IRA used to that in the 1970s.”

When Delamere describes how there’s nothing funnier in this venue than letting latecomers climb the stairs to the side of the seating block without warning them it’s a dead end, a guy enters and just that happens. It’s freakishly perfect.

The premise for DelaMere Mortal was his realisation that, having just turned 33, he’s now lived in Dublin as long as he did his rural family home. What has Delamere learned in the 16 years since? Handily enough, as a 16 year-old, he twice captained teams on Irish TV schools quiz Blackboard Jungle. The video footage – which offers ample opportunity not just for witty self-reflection, but also good-spirited fun at the expense of teammates and opponents – is a comedy time-capsule cracked open to brilliant effect.

Straightforward standup – about the folly of getting lippy with Edinburgh cops when caught drunkcycling, and exchanging angry notes with a motorcylce owning neighbour over parking – fills much else of the hour amply. The finale, featuring more video footage and we’ll say no more, is a lesson in how to neatly wrap up an hour.