We're getting used to pretty much anyone in the public eye trying their hand at standup these days. It seems to be a bucket list special, or, more positively, a rite of passage. However, Absolute Radio DJ Christian O'Connell isn't a total tourist – he has form, having once lost to Julian Barratt in an open mic competition in Edinburgh 18 years ago.
It was, however, a 'mid-bucket' list that prompted his return. Said list comprised of things O'Connell thought he should do before he was 40, and it was apparently written at the eponymous age of 13. It's a neat device, but one can't help wonder if "be a cool dad" was a genuine inclusion or poetic licence. That said, other items on the teenage to-do list include "duff up Darth Vader" and "play Subbuteo with Bryan Robson." They would seem to lend it the requisite Eighties authenticity.
Whatever the veracity, the set is delivered by someone who is already well-versed in holding the attention of others and who has clearly done a lot of research on the verbal tics of comedians since he was last on the scene. Consequently, it's pretty bullet-proof, but to the point where his connection to the material can feel remote. The fault lies at the start of the show where the context of the list is glossed over and details about the 13-year-old O'Connell are not coloured in. Rarely should the early use of PowerPoint be encouraged, but here it seems apposite. It's not radio, after all.