rtb and I had been waiting for this evening since we bought the tickets for Dylan Moran’s first North American tour and his new show, Yeah, Yeah. Last year he performed several nights in a small downtown space. This time he was in the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, which is just off Washington Square and is a bit larger than a Broadway theater.

There was a screen at the back of the stage and drawings by Moran were projected throughout the night. We weren’t sure if we’d be able to take photos and as soon as Moran came out he told us that there were rules (not in a scoldy way) and then chastised those who were trying to take photos (again, it was very funny) and telling them they should wait to see if it’s a good show. And if it’s a good show then they should watch it instead of viewing it through that small screen. For the rest of the night I didn’t see anyone lift their phone for a photo or video.

Moran is an observational comedian. If you asked me who his comedy was similar to I’d have to answer Eddie Izzard but, like Eddie, Moran is really a comedian apart from all the rest. He is Irish, living now in Edinburgh, and his routine started out about NYC and how a foreigner views us and the city. Since he’ll be visiting several cities on this tour I would really like to know how he changes the start of the routine for each city. Does he exchange the names of NYC neighborhoods for Chicago neighborhoods? Does he tweak the same jokes so they work in LA? Or does he have a different beginning for each city?

He got lost at one point and then took off somewhere else. Whether that part was adlibbed or written, it was brilliant. The first half of the show was almost all-new material to us. The second half contained more of the routines he had performed in December or years before but they were still as funny – especially his version of Fifty Shades of Grey.

Moran talked about America and our eating habits, our power, and our politics. He talked about marriage and children. There was a joke about how the lowbrowness of zombie movies in which he admitted that it may sound hypocritical but it was a job for him (he was in Shaun of the Dead). It’s difficult to review a comic without quoting the jokes but then they will never be as funny as how Moran delivers them. He warned us that the show would start out slowly and it did but it sped up quickly. I was laughing loudly throughout and so was everyone around me.

See Dylan Moran before he starts playing Madison Square Garden.

Taken during intermission:

By Carene Lydia Lopez