Tommy Tiernan: Crooked Man

Cancel your meal out, your Rock Band party (if the ads for the computer games are to be believed), set The Apprentice to record, or change whatever it is that you normally do of an evening and instead see Tommy Tiernan in Crooked Man, his latest tour. It's definitely worth the ticket price and your time. Coincidently, keep an eye out for Tiernan's Lord Sugar impression - it'll save you watching the reality show when you get home.

Tiernan walks on calm, relaxed and keen to get things underway. A minute or so of local banter and then he's off with his 2+ hour set primed - which he performing in his favoured style of stories and anecdotes presented via rage, shouting, whispering, jumping, dancing and more. After a few early stories you can see the confidence building up inside Tiernan as he becomes more enthused. Being able to be in the mindset of living the same moment repeatedly and to experience the emotions again is the sign of a good comedian, a quality this Irishman certainly displays.

His stage presence is remarkable. Blink and you may just find him at the other side of the stage or crouched low to the ground. Many of Tiernan's jokes are given a touch more realism by this physicality. Of course, a joke's success is in how it is told - his gestures and actions enhance the gags and he keeps his audience addicted, waiting for more.

One of Tiernan's aims in the show is not to let anyone learn anything from it. He refuses to educate after he had the awful experience of accidentally hearing a stupid fact which could easily erase something much more important in his head. The goal of the evening is to let the audience leave thinking that not only is anything possible, but that it could be done relatively easily. 'I am a man in his forties talking to strangers for money! You can fucking do anything.'

As the evening progressed, I kept thinking to myself what would be a good way to describe this show in a way that has not been done before. Eventually I came up with the expression "Relaxed Aggressive". By definition: One who understands one's aggression but thrives from the adrenaline and causes others close by to feel the rush. Tiernan is comfortable with what he is saying and is able to turn the anger on when he needs to, and use it effectively. Similar to a comic like Jack Dee, we enjoy seeing him angry as it just makes everything funnier.

So go see Tommy Tiernan. Do it now. Off you go.