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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Like, Totally

Dylan Moran

2005 · 69 min

A shambolic, wine-fueled sermon on the absurdity of modern life.

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Dylan Moran pacing a stage with a glass of wine and a cigarette is a familiar sight, but here he pairs his usual curmudgeonly grumbling with a strangely whimsical streak. Filmed at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, the show catches the Irish comic at a career high, turning lazy, everyday frustrations into surprisingly lyrical rants.

Moran spent the early 2000s cemented in the public consciousness as the miserable, wine-guzzling bookshop owner Bernard Black in the sitcom Black Books. Having wrapped up the show and appeared in the film Shaun of the Dead, he returned to full-time stand-up with a shambolic but tightly constructed style.

The material spans from the foolishness of city dwellers romanticizing country life, dismissing farmers as people who are merely ‘necessary to kill cows,’ to comparing Jesus to Batman as potential role models. Moran also riffs on the absolute lack of logic in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s political career, the sensory assault of the German language, and the compromises of long-term relationships. He even contemplates a bizarre, physical afterlife where he returns as nothing but a tentacle and a set of lips looking for chocolate.

The set list

7 bits

  1. Comparing Jesus to Batman as a role model

    Argues Batman has surpassed Jesus, remarking that people turning to Jesus are those who have not done well with anyone else.

  2. Life in the countryside

    Misanthropically observes the dullness of rural living, where having a bowl of soup becomes the highlight of the day.

  3. Catholicism and guilt

    Explores the decorative aspects of the faith, the 'sugary shame' of confronting a packet of biscuits, and how Catholic sex is dirtier because God is watching.

  4. Perceptions of Germany and the German language

    Describes the German language as sounding like 'typing on tin foil' and jokes about thinking 'Hitler, Hitler, Hitler' during every modern conversation with a German.

  5. Arnold Schwarzenegger's political ascent

    Points out that Schwarzenegger became Governor of California simply by virtue of lifting heavy things.

  6. Physical afterlife

    Proposes returning in the afterlife as a tentacle and a set of lips looking for large lumps of chocolate.

  7. Men and women

    Breaks down the differences, similarities, and petty jealousies between the sexes.

How it plays

Tone
Misanthropic, acerbic, surreal, and dryly observational.
On stage
Acerbic, grumpy, eternally world-weary, and nonchalant; appearing in a crumpled shirt with dishevelled hair and surrounded on stage by coffee, wine, water, and cigarettes.
Pace
Gentle, deadpan, and unhurried with almost no physical movement across the stage apart from shuffling to a table of drinks, drifting seamlessly from one unrelated subject to another.
About
smoking, drinking, and drugs, religion and Catholicism, country life, Americans and Starbucks-led imperialism, children, men and women

What the critics said

Praised as brilliant, eloquent, and insightful, offering masterfully constructed verbal imagery and sharp observational substance over physical stage flashiness.

In the room: Rapturous applause and foot-stomping from audiences demanding an encore despite his understated, low-key stage presence.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: themoviedb.org, comedy.co.uk, pro.imdb.com, independent.co.uk, yorkpress.co.uk, chortle.co.uk, unseenfilms.net, en.wikipedia.org.

Details

Released
Runtime
69 min
Director
Michael Matheson
Topics
Before
Monster (2004)
After
Off the Hook (2015)

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