Pete Otway: Six Years from Then

As a burgeoning standup vying for attention among hundreds of others, Pete Otway recognises the importance of differentiating himself from the competition. There are a couple of points during his debut hour when he makes this goal abundantly clear. The most significant is when the performer announces his intention of telling what he calls a "weird story". He's quick to acknowledge that comedians often offer to do just this, but assures us that his is superior to their wacky, made-up nonsense. His work comes from a real place, a genuinely troubling episode from his life. Otway is a breezy, affable performer notable for his honesty and the feeling of trust he engenders in his audience.

The second half of Six Years from Then relates to his struggles with intrusive thoughts, and the toll mental health issues have taken on his wellbeing. He's to be commended for writing a frank and uplifting show on this subject, but elsewhere his honesty leads him down some fairly uninspired paths.

Stories involving his close group of mates and a mother whom he loves are unmistakably drawn from real life, but perhaps should have been embellished for the benefit of strangers. Worst of all is the show's mushy romantic through line which, though clearly of huge importance to Otway, is the stuff of predictable melodrama. Generally, real life is more interesting to experience than to observe.