Review by Steve Bennett

A self-styled man of science, Rolly Moe is a living experiment in quirky humour.

And like all experiments, his offbeat comedy and painfully slow delivery style, is apt to fail spectacularly - though there are also flashes of bizarre genius.

This bow-tied oddball walks stiffly on stage, brandishing two dolls which he uses to re-enact arguments or scenes from classic movie, to the unblinking bewilderment of the audience.

Pockets of laughter break out at the ridiculousness of the situation, before Moe embarks upon his measured attacks on his peculiar bugbears, such as lava and robins.

His style earns him the surreal tag, but the format of his material is actually in traditional stand-up territory, even if the subjects are off-the-wall, and the stilted delivery affords him the chance to pad his ideas over several minutes.

His very strangeness is stupidly funny, and his material has its moments, though towards the end of even a ten-minute slot, the novelty does start to wear off

Moe is probably forever condemned to the fringes of the circuit as the bizarre oddball act who breaks up a night of more straightforward stand-up. His style is just too inaccessible to be anything else. But on that modest level, he's certainly worth catching, if for curiosity value alone.

Review date: 1 Oct 2003
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett