Comedy review: 3 Days Off Jesus - Free, Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters (Venue 272)

It’s entirely possible this delightful Irishman has an actual show inside him, but I couldn’t say for sure. Playing a tiny room, to an over-capacity crowd of his peers, the 26-year-old proves that some people are born with funny in their bone marrow.

RATING: * * *

The show purports to be about growing up in the far south of Ireland with a crazy mother (she took 11 September, 2001 as a personal insult); racing around on bikes as a kid; his love of 1980s action films; and the crapness of a children’s show called Bosco. And his reason for hating porn nearly brought the walls down with vibrations from our laughter.

Bizarrely, the material flagged up as being part of the actual act often misfires, partly because he’s gone off on so many tangents the punchlines lose their momentum. But oh, what a joy those tangents are! The show became so interactive that it felt hanging out with mates, one of whom was side-splitting funny.

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Burke’s jokes are unrepeatable because they’re contextual – hilarious reactions to what’s happening in the moment. But I’m also convinced he could start a party in a cupboard with just a broom for company.

Adorable without veering off into nauseating whimsicality, Burke is someone I urge you to catch while he’s still playing rooms small enough to ensure everyone’s a part of his gang.

Until 26 August.

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