Carl Donnelly: Jive Ass Honky

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There isn't an artsy show inside of Carl Donnelly, waiting to get out. That's just not what he's about. And, do you know what? That's okay. What Carl Donnelly does—and does pretty well—is to deliver a solid hour of comedy on issues relevant to his audience. He turns them over, looks at them askew, and finds the funny in some pretty dark corners.

It is to comedy's credit that standup has become, at least on some circuits, a forum for talking about issues relating to mental health – finally opening one of Generation Y's most studiously ignored closets. That's important, as what happens in the arts demonstrably impacts upon public discourse. It is to Donnelly's credit that he uses this forum so casually. This isn't a show 'about' mental health, any more than it's a show 'about' eating blueberries on a train (I won't spoil that story). It's a show about things that are funny. And for Donnelly, one of those things is an ongoing need to attend to the health of his own mind. He deals with anxiety in the same manner he does blueberries, spinning gawky, apologetic yarns which build to neat, satisfying, if not particularly whizzy punchlines.

The informality does also mean that it's difficult to get truly excited about Jive Honky (nope, I don't know either). It's a safe bet – guaranteed LOLs rather than potential ROFLs. Donnelly's focus is less on linguistic games or interesting turns of phrase than getting to the end of stories with a bang. Sure, there's more he could do with his material, but so what. There's plenty of fun here.