Me, David O’Doherty, and a jewellery shop in Edinburgh

It’s a fact universally acknowledged that Mondays are terrible, so it came as a bit of surprise to end mine sitting on the floor of a funky jewellery shop on Edinburgh’s Candlemaker Row enjoying an impromptu performance by my third favourite comedian, David O’Doherty.

If you’re not familiar with his work, imagine a man with the beard of Tony Law, the build of a friendly bear, the self-deprecating, whimsical charm (and musical talent) of Bill Bailey and the tiny Bontempi keyboard of a seven year old child.

Since winning the If.Comedy award (or Perrier Award, as it will forever be known) in 2008 David hasn’t looked back, mainly because he hasn’t had time due to all the tours, television appearances and – apparently – secret gigs in jewellery shops he’s been so busy doing.

David, or DoD to his many fans, popped a post on Twitter slightly earlier that day suggesting that anyone who fancied seeing a free, secret gig at 6pm that evening should get their collective bottoms down to Hannah Zakari, the aforementioned shop in Edinburgh. There were only 20 tickets available but I was working about two minutes away at the time, so I was very hopeful.

I legged it.

I didn’t get one.

Luckily, the shop’s proprietor, eponymous Hannah, took pity on me and said they could squeeze me in. So I reappeared at 5.50 and pretended to browse her lovely handmade jewellery for a while…until I heard the door being locked behind me. Result!

As I’m a) a big fan and b) the free gig was an opportunity for DoD to run through a work in progress and ask for feedback, I don’t want to formally review the set or anything like that. Not least because I didn’t take a notebook and my memory is about as reliable as the Edinburgh to Glasgow First Scotrail service.

But having said that, it’s shaping up to be a very good show indeed. His stick insect impression was particularly enjoyable, and the whole performance was perfectly balanced between his trademark flights of fancy, anecdotal comedy and kicking tunes. It was special.

Anyone lucky enough to live in the balmy, spider-filled continent of Australia will get to see it in a finalised format at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy festival next week. From what I saw – in my cramped, ankle-numbing position on the shop floor – you’d be a fool to miss it.

Though David, if you’re reading this, you might want to consider coming up with a name for it soon.

I’d like to suggest ‘The Show I First Performed In Hannah Zakari’s Shop In Edinburgh Which Was Great Because I Got To Meet Hilary Wardle And Try On Her Cycle Helmet.’