Feast of comedy from all over

ONE of the more fascinating aspects of Cat Laughs is the degree to which you can compare and contrast the Irish/British/American comedy experience. Young Dublin comic Ed Byrne learnt his craft on the cut throat London circuit and, while there is a certain amount of "laddishness" to his humour (in his tales about birds `n' booze), there is also some real depth and sub stance to his performance when he decides to extend himself as a comic and delve into areas never before touched upon by the comedy community. A narrative about Freud and the Oedipal Complex, sadly not repeat able here, was a stunningly original and well expressed piece of work and marks Ed Byrne down as real comedy star but he'll have to watch his laddish excesses.

Canadian comic Harland Williams is so "out there" with his material that the normal conventions of criticism do not apply. The comedy equivalent of an obscure but ultimately rewarding arthouse movie, he obviously feels no need for such old fashioned concepts as structure, form and content. A series of unrelated one liners, plenty of stunning non sequiturs, some impressive vocal impressions and large doses of surreality make him out to be either a genius or a chancer. We'll opt for the former but reserve the right to invoke the latter if he doesn't guarantee us that he'll bring his show to Dublin, Cork, Galway and Belfast to show the rest of the country what they've been missing out on.

English comic Mark Steel was a revelation and a half as he proceeded to charm the knickers off a packed audience with a beautifully paced show in which he talked about this, that and the other to stunning comic effect. If you need reference points, try to imagine the love child of Peter Cook and Jeremy Hardy, with Eddie Izzard operating as the midwife (and those three people just happen to be some of the funniest people ever). But, in truth, Steel has his own voice and his own way. A skeletal sort of structure empowered him with the freedom to go on a comedy walkabout as he took in subjects ranging from the Irish language, domestic animals and the peculiar English fetish for cups of tea.

Mark Steel didn't engage the audience, he married them. One of the best bits of stand up this reviewer has seen in years. Thank you.

Back to the US and a very funny Scott Capurro opened up (his double entendres are contagious) with a terrific gag about how gay men are stereotyped by the media. "We're either portrayed as hairdressers or serial killers, which is very limiting ... I mean, why can't we be both." Avoiding the more cliched, end of pier aspects of camp humour, he was fresh, original and displayed a lovely turn of phrase. Powerful stuff.

Back in the home country and Dubliner Barry Murphy was doing comedy acrobatics without the aid of a safety net - which, believe me, is all too rare in these days of safely scripted acts. A visual gag about Michelle Smith was a particular highlight, but he stole his own show with his self styled poetry about vegetable shops and dictionary entries. Lovely and, indeed, jubbly.

African American comedian Reggie McFadden brought us on a tour of the crack cocaine neighbourhoods of Los Angeles, stopping only along the way to impart devastatingly funny observations about inner city life. A better stage manner you will be hard pushed to find.

Finally, Dubliner Mark Doherty impressed all and sundry with his highly inventive songs and beguiling manner. Gags about his grandmother, priests and wallets were coming down with all manner of imagination and creativity. Another young Irish whippersnapper on the way up, it seems.