So, a Scottish barman walks into a comedy club one night and catches a show. As he's sitting there, it occurs to him that he could probably do better.

It sounds like the start of a joke, but it was actually a moment of epiphany. A year after the comedy club night, Danny Bhoy won the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Award, the most prestigious award for fledgling comics in the United Kingdom. Given five minutes to impress a tough panel of comedian judges, headed by Steve Coogan and Jenny Eclair, Bhoy launched into a riotous take on the then-recent nuptials of David Beckman and Spice Girl Victoria Adams. A star was born.

Bhoy wasted no time getting more club experience. He threw himself into the British comedy circuit to hone his craft, with the ultimate goal of staging his own one-man stand-up act at the Edinburgh Fringe. The wandering in the performance wilderness of one-night stands in Blackpool and Bristol paid off.

The twentysomething lad from Dumfries has since invaded the Commonwealth, and has done a fairly quick job of winning over Aussies, New Zealanders and Canadians to his comedy. Now even America is taking notice, with Bhoy having made his mark at the recent inauguration of the Las Vegas Comedy Festival, where he shared the bill with the likes of Chris Rock, Steve Martin, Robin Williams and Jerry Seinfeld.

Seinfeld is often mentioned as a favorable comparison when critics are appraising Bhoy's work. Regardless of his opening barrage of Beckham jokes in the early days, Bhoy has settled into being a master comedic storyteller. His humor is observational, rather than dependent on practiced schtick and patter. He first began using his experiences as a young barman as his stock-in-trade, but has matured into a sharp-eyed commentator on the vagaries and lunacies of contemporary life.

Prague audiences will get a chance to catch Bhoy's act this week at the Fringe Comedy Night at Divadlo na prádle, the off-Fringe season of comedy and music put together by Prague Fringe founder Steve Gove. Started last year, the Fringe Comedy Nights have become a popular venue for English-speaking comedians. The latest round of performances started last week with Australian Adam Hills, and will

continue Dec. 12 with a return visit from Topping and Butch.

A good sign of Bhoy's reputation among his fellow comedians was given at the end of Hills' show last week. "Danny Bhoy is here next, I hear," Hills told his large audience. "You have to see him. He's great."