Review by Graham Finney
“Where shall we begin?” asks Dylan Moran as he brings his new stand-up show, Dr.Cosmos, to the Grand Theatre in York. When some smart-arse in the crowd retorts “at the start”, this gives the Irish stand-up the perfect kick start for the night and, very quickly, Moran hits his ever-so-wobbly stride.
The show sees Moran dissecting the difference between how those twenty-five and under, or as he puts it, “the internet people”, view life, and the rest of us (affectionately labelled “the real people”). From comparing Spotify and Tinder to his generations equivalent of a DJ playing Barry White on repeat and writing dating ads, Dr. Cosmos is the ramblings of a man who is now experiencing life having given up drinking (only to realise he is actually like this anyway) while desperately realising he is growing old and there is nothing that can be done about it. For eighty minutes, Moran lurches between a range of topics from Donald Trump, Theresa May’s face and Brexit to cats and technology. Like his character in Black Books, Moran’s own thoughts are at times bleak and, if you’re one of the “real people”, frankly, quite depressing but, very rarely are they anything other than spot on.
Both his thoughts on the delicacy that is Findus Crispy Pancakes and a look at his relationship with his wife and children are probably as confusing to the under 25’s as they are hysterical to the over 40’s. However, despite treading a line where his routines are at risk of alienating half his audience at any given point, Dr.Cosmos is just a brilliant, if slightly brief journey through the mind of a man who wants nothing more than to both educate the youth to what they can expect from life in the years to come whilst also helping his own generation traverse the minefield that is modern life.
To find out more details on Dylan’s upcoming shows, click here.
