"Tonight's the first time I catch Carl Donnelly, and the first thing I notice is he ain't a stand-up, he's the MC.
"And the second thing I notice is there's nothing sadder than joke-mongerers belting out line after line in a desperate attempt to be liked...
"Just as there's nothing happier than Carl walking calmly on stage, settling down to chat, and letting the humour - and the laughter - come out naturally.
"'Cause natural's the key to Carl's approach, and thank the Lord for that. He may've won award after award, he may be Mr Pack-Maximum-Experience-into-Minimum-Time, he may be Up There while we're always, always Down Here. But he has the ease and the suss and the style to enter our world and turn it upside down and get us laughing our proverbial socks off in the process.
"Even when he's infantile you don't think silly sod, you just think hell so am I and it's nice to be reminded of the fact by someone Up There. When he takes the mick outa stoopid teens you don't think arrogant berk, you just think yeah that's exactly how I feel but I could never express it so well (or so humorously). And when he self-effacingly calls himself a prankmaster you don't think shades of Rik from 'The Young Ones', you just lie back and wallow in his smarm, his charm, his unabashed chortle-baiting.
"Carl may not be the cleverest of stand-ups. But he doesn't want to be, he knows laughter's more important."
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