It is not your usual comedy festival. The inaugural Pimm’s Summerfest has taken over Holland Park’s canopied theatre, which usually hosts opera, and the first night was notable for the well-attired clientele. Suits abounded, the odd pashmina was sighted and picnickers ploughed into Carluccio’s hampers in the interval. Imagine Glyndebourne with gags.
Stand-up, however, is a great leveller and Jason Byrne soon had the crowd chortling like Comedy Store regulars. The flame-haired Irishman has just completed a sensational sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe and, as befitted his surname, he was still on fire, stalking around the stage spewing out blazing lines at will.
Byrne is at his best when feeding off the audience. In this shorter set he cut to the chase, merely mocking latecomers before getting into his script, which revolves around his exasperation with absolutely everything. A recent move to the country from Dublin has handed him a whole new angle. His blistering routine on being terrified of the dark and the animal noises at night makes one wonder if he relocated just to come up with fresh funnies.
Elsewhere he was on showstopping form with his well-honed reflections on the problems of keeping romance alive and, particularly, parenthood: "Whoever says ‘I slept like a baby’ has never had a baby in the house." Byrne claims that his own son has not snoozed for four years and if his father screams at home as much as he screams onstage that may be true.
The bill, smoothly MCed by Russell Kane, had other attractions. Andrew Lawrence gets more accessible and less misanthropic with each show, Richard Herring read fragrant leaves from his teenage diary, comparing himself favourably to Gandhi and Anne Frank. Boozy American maverick Doug Stanhope nearly derailed proceedings with some anti-sponsorship rants but the crowd was too determined to enjoy themselves. Those walking out probably just wanted to finish their hampers.
Summerfest until 31 August (0871 231 0821, www.pimmssummerfest.com).
Jason Byrne
Holland Park
Holland Park, W8 6LU
