Dave Callan's 'Daylight Savings For The Doomsday Clock'
Fringe Factory Theatre - The Tea Room
Until Sun 16 March


Dave Callan, the comedian presenting 'Daylight Savings For The Doomsday Clock', tells some odd jokes. He ruminates on the difference between the people who go to the Fringe and those who go to the Clipsal 500, gets an audience member to demonstrate a Tim-Tam Slam, and mimes literally blowing smoke up someone's arse. But that's before he starts worrying about the state of the world.
Callan explains the concept of the Doomsday Clock, the theoretical device that measures how close the planet is to a nuclear or ecological Apocalypse - currently sitting at five minutes to midnight, if you're wondering. He explains at the outset that things will get a little serious during the next hour of comedy, and that, as it's not all laughs, he's lowered the cost of tickets accordingly.
Which is kind of a good thing. That's not to say that Dave Callan isn't funny, because at times he is hilarious. But there are long patches, during which he explains the many threats to the world we live in, which are intentionally laugh free, and it's a little disappointing. I don't think comedians should shy away from uncomfortable topics (quite the opposite), but I'm sure that there are those performers out there who could have kept us laughing even as they reinforced the fact that we're in a pretty worrying predicament right now.
Callan's humour works best when he goes for the surreal. A section on the culture of Goths, and their progeny Emos, may have very little to do with impending environmental disaster, but it's pretty funny. He should work harder on his other material to make the more relevant parts just as entertaining, rather than the awkward mix he's got at the moment.


Henry Nicholls