Comedy review: Michael Redmond: I Wrote a Joke in 1987

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: This is a gentle meander down a lane that leads through memories of Michael's career.

Gilded Balloon Teviot (Venue 14)

***

He had a sectarian Irish upbringing, got fired from his job with the Irish Tourist Board for telling American tourists some ridiculous tales of where leprechauns go and left Ireland for the bright lights of London having written one joke. It was a great joke. But it was only one. His second was written on the train from Holyhead to London. And together they started his 30-year comedy career.

The word laconic springs to mind, but it makes Redmond sound too much the livewire. But it all adds to the lovely measured style of a man whose deadpan one-liners are like little pebbles of funny dropped into the calm pool of his hour.

Joe Pasquale and his son come in for some gentle but pointed stick and Redmond turns out to be an astute art critic. A very zen hour of lovely craic, with enough relaxed pauses in it to make a concurrent open mike night onstage a genuine possibility.

Until 28 August. Today 6:30pm.