2016 Barry Award Nominee David O’Doherty is ready for the next level and wants you to know it. Maybe due to the type of material that is pushed out to publicise O’Doherty (which is largely about his whimsical songs) one can be forgiven for forgetting he has a quality stand up routine that is not reliant on musical accompaniment. Nevertheless, the moments when O’Doherty approached his keyboard, you could feel the audience get a bit excited.
I had not seen O’Doherty live before, having only seen him on UK comedy panel shows like 8 out of 10 Cats and his other recorded gigs. It did feel like I was the only one. Big fans of O’Doherty had flocked back to see him again, year after year.
O’Doherty’s apparent familiarity with Melbourne and its culture endeared the audience to him. This jovial part of his personality juxtaposes the serious issues he occasionally touches on…or sings about for a number of minutes, which demonstrate that even when considering the worst parts of the world, you can still laugh.
Despite hurting himself twice in the same gig, he hung in there. I just hope he found the free physiotherapy he probably needed!