Markus Birdman: 2B Or Not To Be

If life has taught Markus Birdman anything, it’s that optimism does you no favours. “Bad shit’s going to happen to you,” he shrugs, with the authority of a man who's suffered a stroke at just 40 (explored in 2012) and the collapse of a 14-year relationship (see 2013). He’s adept at turning misery into fuel for his comedy and, after recapping those calamities with easy candour, he assures us he’s topped up his tank: to his politely contained horror, his ex is seeing someone else.

Birdman isn’t morose or self-pitying, simply eager to articulate the experience of taking the rough with the smooth. He gives much of the hour over to the story of how, in defiance, he re-entered the world of one-night stands after a particularly weird gig in Norway. It’s a bizarre and bawdy tale balanced out by his English shockability and the insistence that he’s not trying to paint all women as mad – only one or two.

Unsurprisingly, Birdman's no romantic, so he’s keen to counter the representations of love that his daughter sees in kids’ books. Here he’s drawn some of his own, with a series that runs from lust at first sight, to the strains of coupled life, and finally to the desolate aftermath. Even if the drawings don’t carry much in the way of effective gags, they’re a lovingly draughted embellishment that provides a colourful counterpoint to the everyday pain they describe.

For a show that seeks to show disillusionment and heartbreak as facts of life, 2B's triumph is that it’s remarkably light. We’ll even forgive the first doodle Birdman reveals: a pervy clergyman pull-tab animation that’s straight from the “naughty” section of Clinton Cards.