Susie Essman Live

Apparently, Susie Essman is virtually a household name in the US, being one of the stars of the show Curb Your Enthusiasm. I say apparently because I'd never seen it, and nor I believe had most of the intrepid audience. This rather put to bed any thought that you would be swept along by the fact that it was who it was on stage ... go and see your favourite comedian and you'll always think they are funny, even if they aren't. Essman had her work cut out as if she were treading the boards for the first time.

Which clearly she wasn't. The delivery, speed and vigour of the performance implied a tremendous stand-up pedigree. Her native New York, it transpires, has been witness to her stand-up shows for years and she's performed live hundreds of times.

And it's clear why she is so popular. Apart from the poor hapless souls to whom she turned her attention (some old guy called Bob, some young buck called George, some older couple, ... ), the rest of the audience she reached out and grabbed through observational comedy, empathy and familiarity. Even though it dripped in Rivers-esque New York yiddish dialect, attitude and neurosis, stripping back these attributes and it was the human condition, hilariously laid-bare.

Much of the hour focused on her "to do list" of things to tell children by way of advice for future life. OK most of it centred on sex. Having it, not having it, judging it, and specific attributes thereof. But how it was put, the very real mothering instinct only partly obscured by the coarse oral slapstick, was a joy to listen to.

Absolutely clear is that most of this routine is well-honed on audiences back home (her home I mean), and that (as she herself invited someone in the audience to check) Essman needed to check her frames of reference in a couple of places. But you can forgive her that, as she was busy making your sides hurt with 100 mile an hour rhetoric.

Additionally, Essman was doing all of this in a provincial town as part of a small-fry comedy festival, making it all the more challenging for her, and perhaps all the more rewarding for the audience.

One final mention is for Ed Byrne - the Irish comic. Turns out he was the "support". Which is why this gets such a high rating on value for money. Byrne is a class act, very funny and works the audience extremely well. His 'Grand Canyon' gag is the funniest joke I'd heard in ages.

Byrne and Essman; a great Friday night.