Place on bill: Open mic
Venue: Creased Up - The Hawth, Crawley
Date of show: 8th December 2005

Neil Mooney sets quite an imposing figure; he's a big bloke with a shaved head and serious scowl. His looks are, however, completely against type because rather than a set comprised of birds, booze and brawling, Mooney's material encompasses a more cerebral tone than his brutish appearance would have presumed.

His train of thought starts off with a fairly simple premise that follows a logical course - mostly all too logical. At first it's not clear whether this is observational comedy finally taken to its natural limit where the only things left to comment on are the most common and mundane. The audience listens with an air of, 'Yeah? And?' Then the logic of his premise is analogised to other aspects of life and given an almost surreal twist but it's too little too late. It took too long to set up his world of twisted banality and focus on him was lost.

Compiled with that (or, perhaps, a reason for it) was that nervousness had taken a firm hold of him and I have it on good authority that an audience can smell fear from a mile off. Any performer can be given a certain amount of leeway if s/he is having an off night; dry mouth, the shakes and even a lapse in delivery are things that can be forgiven and passed by if the material is up to scratch. However, with those most basic of human traits Mooney also displayed all the elements of how not to do stand-up. The most basic rule being 'know your material' but Mooney needed to keep referring to crib notes. Then there was a constant attempt to validate his material should the laughs not be forthcoming. Perhaps the worst crime was his abject disinterest, or inability, to connect with the audience. He paced the stage keeping his attention fixed on the wings and during those moments when he did face the audience then his eyeline was focussed a foot over their heads talking to the back wall.

That said, Mooney's material did show potential and, apparently, he did quite well at the 2005 Chortle National Student Comedy Awards but from his performance on this night his set requires a huge overhaul to tighten it all together. I've always recommended the baptism of fire for aspiring comics but that can be made slightly less painful with intense preparation. Like memorising your material for starters.