Review – Dave Callan: Psychology of Laughter

Dave the hairy, irish, dancing, 6 and a half-foot Viking is a favourite of the festival and has been for 20 odd years. Is it because he’s funny to look at? Partly, but he also says some funny things… and dances, did I mention he dances? His new show ‘The Psychology of Laughter’ is based around a book that he found whilst in Edinburgh; a very technical break down of why we laugh by Dr. Boris Sidis who ironically, according to Dave, has very little sense of humour. This is a great concept for a show, learning while laughing… who would have thought? I didn’t even know that was allowed under comedy fest guidelines.

Dave takes us through the book, which he assures us he’s read, and goes through the important points and, like a good tour operator, stops to point out all the casual racism and blatant sexism…ahh the good old days. Unfortunately Dave mustn’t have felt there was quite enough material in the book to create an hour-long show, as he’s padded out with some pretty tired comparisons of life 100 years ago and life today which feel like too much of a stretch. I think that he could have gone a bit more in-depth with the psychology, which was surprisingly interesting and, with the modern-day examples provided by Dave, oftentimes hilarious. It’s not a bad show, but it’s certainly not his best.