Sean Hughes


Royalty Theatre
Sun 25 March
season closed


Probably the funniest man I've seen at the festival, Sean Hughes is the Irishman who's got just enough fame that you can't tell whether you've seen him on TV, or whether he's your neighbour from four houses down.

Not only is Hughes a seasoned performer, he was itching to do stand-up tonight as he's been away from it for quite a while. Full of things to share, Hughes was like a teenager that had just got back from travelling - he was so confident in his many stories, and being the last night of his two show run, decided to indulge us and go ten minutes over time.

Peter Goers, 'Sunday Mail' opinion writer copped an earful early on. Reading an exert from Goers column, Hughes stopped every five or so words to point out the absurd judgmental writing that we seem to eat up - it was brilliant!

Missing the sound of the pond from near where he sleeps at home, Hughes explained that to acclimatise himself to new sleep surroundings, he had to leave the shower running all night. Such is his irrepressible charm that the more he pushed the boundaries the funnier he was. He asked a woman (who was sitting next to her father) whether he could have sex with her after the show (the 'fool' can get away with saying anything). The funniest joke I'd personally heard all festival was the suggestion to give people with Down Syndrome the jobs inside big character suits at Disneyland because they love hugging people! Hughes was completely inappropriate and completely hilarious!

Steve Williams