Dylan Moran shares parenting tips with St Albans audiences (From Watford Observer)

Dylan Moran shares parenting tips with St Albans audiences

3:15pm Thursday 9th June 2011 in Theatre

Charismatic and curmudgeonly, Dylan Moran is a mesmerising, magnetic stage presence. Ever since he became the youngest person ever to win the Perrier Award as a wunderkind 24-year-old at the Edinburgh Festival in 1996, reviewers have been lavishing praise on the Irish comedian.

Now 39, Dylan has enjoyed enormous success on both the big and the small screen. He starred in the widely-adored BBC 2 comedy, How Do You Want Me?, and his much-loved Channel 4 sitcom, Black Books, won both Bafta awards and a Bronze Rose of Montreux. He also drew great acclaim for his performances in hit movies sich as Shaun of the Dead and Run Fatboy Run and A Film with Me in It. But now he can’t wait to return to the stand-up arena.

A rare comedian who is as witty off stage as on it, he makes for compelling company. In the run-up to the tour, he tells me how excited he is about the new show. “I get really energised by stand-up,” enthuses Dylan, who is married with two children. “I’m constantly writing new material – the taps are always running.

“The spontaneity of a live performance is a huge part of the appeal. It’s like a match about to strike a tinder – it can only occur once and you never know quite what will happen.” One of his principal themes for the new show will be growing older.

“Ageing will always be a subject – until you are unable to talk about it anymore,” smiles the stand-up, who hails from Navan in County Meath. “At New Year, I got a little glimpse of what lies ahead. I fell out of the shower because I simultaneously had soap in my eyes and a coughing fit and nearly ended up with a broken leg. That’s what happens to all of us as we age – gradually we fall apart. We become like a fairground ride that has been designated too dangerous for use.” Dylan says he will also be discussing the fragility of the modern world in Yeah, Yeah.

“There is now a real sense of everything being precious and endangered and contingent on how we behave,” muses the comedian, who will also be touring Scandinavia and Australasia with this show.

“People do now seem to be questioning whether bull-in-a-china-shop capitalism is the right way. ‘Responsible capitalism’ has always seemed like a contradiction in terms to me. It’s like ‘compassionate conservatism’ – I don’t think there is such a thing. You can’t put any go-faster stripes or add-on bits on those ideas. You have to decide whether to have allotments or carrots made by lasers.”

Dylan, who takes a rare pleasure in language, goes on to reflect on the febrile atmosphere that reigns in Britain these days.

“It feels like an extraordinary time. It’s hugely volatile. It’s such a change from the Blair years of absurd prosperity and clenched smiles. Now everyone is biting their lips and scratching their heads trying to work out what on earth has happened.”

In addition, the comic will be discussing parenthood.

“It’s impossible to remember what life before children was like. How did you fill all that time? You took half a day to eat a sandwich and talk rubbish with your friends about films. Overall, you stumble blindly into parenthood. It’s like human progress in general: we’re doing this without learning very much.”

The Yeah, Yeah tour is coming to The Alban Arena, Civic Centre, St Albans on Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11 at 8pm. Details: 01727 844488, www.alban-arena.co.uk