Everybody Knows That The Dice Are Loaded

Abstract

When Dylan Moran appears on the Vicar Street stage in Dublin as part of the Monster II tour, he gestures in various directions around the crowd, throwing out a couple of ‘hello’s’, along the way. While trying to get the microphone off the stand he proceeds to get himself caught up in the wire, swears and tells everyone he’s leaving. Behind him and upstage centre is a very large and decorative picture frame. Within the frame, Moran’s own series of sketches ebb and flow in slide show format. His entrance onto the stage may or may not be timed with the image of a torso in a pin-striped jacket, speckled shirt and patterned tie. There is a revolver where the head should be; it’s pointing at the audience, and underneath that is a caption that reads “How may I help you?”³ Images such as this help to set a certain tone to the evening. Apart from the cartoon gallery, which silently shifts and segues its way through the performance like an art instillation, the stage space, in the main, is typical of a stand-up comedy performance piece. A microphone, a stand, a square table just left of centre stage and a bar stool without a back. On the table there is a jug of water and a glass, a glass of white wine and no ashtray. (In recent years Moran has given up smoking, at least while performing.) However, in this instance the comic who should not be smoking stubs out his cigarettes on the stage floor. Nobody seems to mind.