Gig review by Steve Bennett

Maybe there was a big attraction elsewhere on the Latitude site, but Tommy Tiernan did not play to the same packed-to-the-gills comedy tent that some other, less deserving, comics enjoyed. But those who were there witnessed another virtuosic display of stand-up brilliance, opinionated, charming and exquisitely lyrical.

Tiernan might have dropped more f-bombs in his first five minutes than in Quentin Tarantino’s entire ouvre, but he makes a convincing argument for why swearing is such an implicit, explicit part of the Irish tongue. And he should know, for his comedy is all about language expressing sentiment as vividly and vibrantly as it can.

It’s almost a cliche to say he follows in a fine tradition of eloquent, impish storytellers from this island on the edge of Europe, but he does. There’s a magic to his imagery you don’t find elsewhere, whether he’s describing news footage from some far-flung Third World troubleshot, or the drunks piling unsteadily out of the nightclubs in a small Irish town. Even the old staple of domestic discord is given new life by his expert exaggeration.

His nation’s place in the world is a mainstay of his act, evoking the idea of a free-spirited, slightly mad people that he is keen to embrace himself. He seems to think, for example, that Ireland has no place in the EU alongside the efficient,, business-like countries.

Another key strand this afternoon was his increasing awareness of mortality – a ticking time bomb that inspires him to do things well. It certainly seems to have a positive effect on his stand-up, if not on his performance in the bedroom.

He was, he tells us, too thick to be a priest, as he once wanted to be, and given his misunderstanding of a parable he tells in his own unique way, the Church probably hasn’t missed him. But not following that calling was certainly comedy’s gain.

Review date: 20 Jul 2014
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett