Dylan Moran: Like, Totally

In the follow-up to Monster, this DVD release is of Moran's more recent comedy tour. For those that are not aware of him, Moran is perhaps best known for his irritable turn in the imaginative and alternative comedy Black Books. Monster was slightly in that mould, with Moran holding part of that character and coming off a bit like Eddie Izzard crossed with Albert Steptoe. With "Like, Totally" he has refined his on screen personae to some degree to the point where he seems a lot more relaxed and affable but still retains his same imaginative style of humour.

This refined is cosmetic in the shape of bringing his hair under some form of control and being less physically and visually expressive but it also does come across in his comedy. It has not become soft or lost all sense of anger but on the contrary the emotion within his delivery tends to be more well rounded and well observed. He structures his delivery pretty well for the most part for example using the topic of people seeking a better life to mock rural and national stereotypes as the first of his flows. Some of his jumps later in the show are sudden and seem a bit random but mostly it works well. In regards the show as it plays on a television, the editing is a bit harsh and at times it does feel like pauses and well timed gaps have been cut shorter, occasionally breaking up his timing after the fact.

Moran himself continues to come across a bit like Izzard and as I have said before, if you do like the latter then you will probably enjoy Moran as well. How he deals with the odd heckler is amusing and quite sensible even if the viewer always hope for a cutting putdown to any heckler. Overall then an enjoyable and imaginative show that did make me laugh out loud many times across the hour. Probably not to everyone's taste but the toning down of his Black Books wildness without any loss of the flights of fancy have made him more accessible and certainly he deserves the wide success that Izzard had with a similar style of comedy.

Second Concert DVD from the mad Irishman is very funny. Not quite as good as Monster but still amusing. Moran twists and savages everyone and everything with his unique view of things. I especially agree with his dislike for Americans-especially Americans who travel- How can you argue with a man who says that stupid people sound stupider with most American accents. As for his observations about how hard it is to have a conversation with anyone from Germany because you keep thinking "Hitler", I find he's probably on target too.(Though I can't say if he's right about their food).

If there is a downside to the show its the direction and editing of the program. I have a wicked sense that the material was trimmed- or if not trimmed time compressed (much like the difference seeing Eddie Izzard's Circle on the night it was taped, as opposed to a night when he didn't have to keep it at 90 minutes- as good as the show is the pacing seemed off especially if you saw the original show.) There are also odd cuts between angles that seem far from organic that make the whole thing seem mechanical- something that doesn't happen when you just listen to the routines.

Over all worth a look.

7.5 out of 10