Dara O'Briain

The faint praise often applied to Irish stand-up Dara O'Briain is that he's a born compere. Which tends to mean: convivial, reliable, quick-witted, but not very exciting. His recent success as anchorman on Have I Got News for You will have reinforced the reputation. But that downplays O'Briain's mastery of the stand-up's skills, not to mention his intelligence. In Edinburgh last summer, and now on a national tour, O'Briain offers funnier and smarter entertainment than his ostensibly conventional shtick suggests.The show's occasional subject is the baggage that O'Briain hopes to jettison as he enters middle age. He compares himself to Prince Hal in Henry IV, a reference from which most of his stand-up contemporaries would flee in panic to the nearest knob gag. On a trivial level, growing up means goodbye to backpacking and drunken seductions at 4am. (He's only 33, but comedians become curmudgeons earlier than anyone else.)In a rambling first half, whose flow is impeded by overindulgent chat with the audience, O'Briain takes pot-shots at the cult of youth. The young may be pretty, but "I've worked a bit," he says, smugly, "and I've got cash."It's in act two that O'Briain hits his stride, exploring the knee-jerk attitudes that an anglicised Irishman finds it hardest to shake off. His account of the petty resentments at a Catholic-Protestant so-called "mixed marriage" ceremony is a 10-minute tour de force of humanist comedy, more interested in bringing people together than separating them into the usual cheap stereotypes.Elsewhere, O'Briain challenges his own investment in Ireland's myths. He ridicules the country's newfound distaste for economic migration ("we spent 150 years clambering over Mexicans in the Rio Grande!") and mocks the Easter Rising, which captured "a post office and a biscuit factory".It's thoughtful stuff, impeccably delivered. With material this strong, you don't need gimmicks.· At Newport Riverfront (01633 656757) tomorrow. Then touring.