The Prague Post
September 7th, 2008
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Hotel Prague Centre

Home » Archives » Night & Day

Modesty ablaze

The very low-energy comedy of David O'Doherty
Stage Review | Search restaurants | Archives

By Steffen Silvis
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 28th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Not a knitting pattern, but it will do. David O'Doherty.
David O'Doherty: It's David O'Doherty Time

Fringe Comedy Nights
When: Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Divadlo na Prádle
Tickets: 245 Kč

He is the king of very low-energy performance, a whimsical version of Bedazzled’s Drimble Wedge modestly caffeinated. Dublin-based Irish comedian David O’Doherty cannot even be bothered to stand up for his act, preferring to sit in a chair with a Casio keyboard perched on his lap, where he sings of possessing “very mild superpowers” and other slight achievements. Yet what can you expect from a man who dreams of one day appearing in a knitting pattern?
His famed lethargic levity aside, O’Doherty has bestirred himself enough to establish a writing career, with his children’s book, Ronan Long Gets It Wrong, being a popular favorite. He has also had his own television program, which bore the exceedingly cocky title of The Modest Adventures of David O’Doherty.
This paragon of the low key will finally make his Prague debut as part of the Fringe Comedy Night series. We exchanged e-mails with O’Doherty while he was on his latest, modest tour.
The Prague Post: What was your childhood like? Was it anything like Sir Ernest Shackleton’s, the subject of one of your short films?
David O’Doherty: I grew up in Dublin, not far from where he grew up. I always found it fascinating why someone from a nice, boring suburb, close to football pitches and the beach, would want to go to the South Pole. What stirred his imagination? Was it because this place was so boring? I would love to go to Antarctica, but there isn’t much call for stand up comedians there. I might get used as firewood.
TPP: Were you a class comedian at school, or the boy quietly taking notes in the back of the room?
DO: In school I wanted to become a piano player. My dad is a jazz pianist and he was the one who told me when I was 18 that I wasn’t any good. He was completely right, but I was heartbroken for a short time. Then I discovered comedy.
TPP: You seem to admire quite a few sports figures. What is it about Stephen Roche that inspired you to mention his name in every episode of your television series?
DO: Stephen Roche was the Irish cyclist who won the Tour de France in 1987. It was a huge moment for me. Nobody from Ireland had ever won anything before, except the Eurovision, and that didn’t count because we always used to win it. Then he came along. It sounds ridiculous but I remember the thought striking me, Irish people can go overseas and be good at things! Brilliant! So going to do comedy in Prague is a bit like me competing in the Tour de France.
TPP: When did you begin creating your brand of very low-energy musical whimsy?
DO: I’ve never been a jump-around comedian. I don’t get terribly excited and I like sitting in a chair on stage and playing a tiny keyboard. A journalist once described it as “low-energy musical whimsy,” and I found it such a ridiculous description I began to talk about it onstage. In fact, I changed it to “very low-energy musical whimsy,” or VLEMWy for short, and put it in a song that lots of people looked at on YouTube.
TPP: Are you working on any new books?
DO: I am working on a book called 100 Facts About Pandas with my girlfriend at the moment, where all of the facts are completely made up. Did you know that panda fur, when woven into a fabric, is 100 percent bulletproof? What? You didn’t? I’m surprised.
TPP: Where have you found the ideal audience for your work?
DO: Audiences aren’t that different around the world. Wherever I’ve been, people laugh at the same stuff. Except for Iceland. I once did a gig there and people only laughed at jokes about Norwegians and polar bears getting stuck on icebergs.

Steffen Silvis can be reached at ssilvis@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (28/11/2007):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Provokator
Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.