Comedy is a funny thing (if you're lucky – badum tsssh!). What makes the person sitting in front of you bray like a donkey on laughing gas might well leave you cringing in embarrassment. Humour, to state the obvious, is a very subjective thing.
The good thing about the Vodafone Comedy Festival - apart from the fact that it's situated in one of Dublin's most beautiful public spaces, the Iveagh Gardens – is that there's something on the programme to suit all tastes, with at least four acts (including an MC) on each bill.
The festival kicked off last night with gigs by the likes of Tommy Tiernan, PJ Gallagher, Jason Byrne and Reginald D. Hunter, but we made a beeline for one of the biggest draws on this year's bill - Adam Buxton of 'Adam and Joe' fame. Buxton's headline slot was competently MCed by Jarlath Regan, whose line in self-deprecating humour and observations about being Irish and living in the UK – as documented in his popular 'An Irishman Abroad' podcast – went down pretty well.
Also on the bill was New York comedian Aparna Nancherla, who was making her Irish debut; her neurotic persona suited her wry observations about being an Indian woman in the unpredictable dating world of Tinder, while jokes about babies on airplanes and being overw by statuesque models in New York raised a good few bellylaughs.
Her fellow New Yorker Joe List was also playing his first Irish gig at the festival and proved a sharp, insightful comic who, against all odds, managed to put a new spin on 'So, my girlfriend…' jokes. His 'Tuesday with Stories' podcast is something that we'll definitely be checking out.
Yet while comedy is sometimes down to taste, sometimes the set just doesn't work. There was a lot of expectation on Adam Buxton to deliver, and things got off to a bad start with a technical malfunction of his laptop as he nervously ad-libbed about his impending appearance on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Buxton's audio-visual show was essentially a slideshow of not-that-funny, patently obvious jokes – one about a 'middle class premium' dessert that was stretched out to eye-rolling levels.
So much comedy is about staying one step ahead of your audience, but you could see Buxton's punchlines coming a minute before he got to them. Perhaps the slideshow element didn't help - although it's been his 'thing' for quite a while now - but unfortunately for him the evening was stolen by the Joe List - a comic who has a natural ability to think on his feet. The latter plays again on both Saturday and Sunday, while the former shares a bill with David O'Doherty tonight- see vodafonecomedy.com for full listings.
