Iain Stirling: Happy to be the Clown

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Iain Stirling comes from a family of celebrated legal eagles, but spends a lot of his time talking to Hacker the puppet dog on CBBC. Worried he had some big shoes to fill, he instead, became a comedian, a clown.

This is Stirling’s first full hour and, yes, it shows – not least in his constant, and somewhat nervous, self-explanatory commentary. He felt the need to include an overarching theme so this is, loosely, an exploration of his self-worth, structured around the first six months of a Cliff Richard calendar.  As themes go, it's not particularly innovative and while Stirling acknowledges this, you can't help but wonder why he didn't think of something stronger. In saying this, it is a testament to his talent that he almost makes it work.

In fact, the cod-psychology is needless. At its heart, this is a series of anecdotes succeeding largely on the basis of Stirling’s likeability. Engaging and cheeky, it's clear why he was employed for a childrens' show, even when indulging in a bit of less-than-squeaky-clean swearing. Besides jokes about the northern diet and vocabulary, he covers surreal playground bullying, family members on Facebook and his own drunken escapades. Again, while there are some sharp lines this is hardly ground-breaking stuff; if you're going to mention Facebook, you'd better have a bloody good reason. Unfortunately, Stirling doesn't quite justify it. But hey, this is a solid debut with plenty of potential; while the show doesn’t quite work, there is natural talent here, it's just a shame he didn't push himself that little bit further.