Andrew Ryan: Ryanolopy

It is a bit disconcerting having someone who looks like the dim-witted Dougal from Father Ted give financial advice. One might as well take driving tips from George Michael.

But this is what Cork’s Andrew Ryan, the Ardal O’Hanlon lookalike in question, sets out to do over the course of his first solo Fringe show.

To be fair, Ryan has form on the fiscal front. He was a manager within the Royal Bank of Scotland for several years before taking a redundancy package as the behemoth went belly-up. Before that he witnessed how financial institutions relied upon their customers’ ignorance and timidity to drive profits.

His message from the other side is, not only should we not fear the banks, but we should mess with their minds. Have a laugh with them.

This leads to the strongest and most focussed part of his show. He replays various phone conversations with the Bank of Ireland chasing an overdraft and salesmen trying to sell him gadget insurance. For these he really does channel the cherubic idiocy of Dougal. He deliberately gets the security questions wrong and stops the slick, relentless sales patter by asking questions only a toddler wouldn’t blush at. Forget Martin Lewis, this is the best financial advice you’ll get all year.

Ryan fares less well when he strays into more generic topics such as his girlfriend and the Catholic Church. His show is never less than engaging, but like his face, there’s a feeling we’ve seen it before.