Comedy Festival 2018: Bantering trio gives it a fair craic in The Full Irish ★★

SIXTY minutes of Blarney bantering that yields a decent dose of laughs.

THEY love a banter, the Irish do.

Any chance they get and off they go, bantering this way and that and never quite knowing where it might lead.

So it is with The Full Irish. This compendium of craic brings together three sons of the Emerald Isle who have done their fair share of bantering. But Andrew Stanley, Alan McElroy and John Lynn — capable comics all — might land a few more laughs if their material had a clearer destination.

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Right now, much of it feels as loose and frothy as a pint of Guinness.

Stanley frontloads The Full Irish with oodles of energy, riffing on Australian accents, sunburn and our preference for single-syllable names. The guy’s a natural and quick-witted in front of a crowd.

Andrew Stanley fronts The Full Irish.

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Alan McElroy, up second, goes in harder with Tinder tales that deliver a fair few four-letter laughs but cry out for a cracking punchline.

Then there’s John Lynn. This wild-eyed comic is adept at creating vivid word pictures and his stories, some about his fear of flying, are spun with some skill.

The Full Irish

Kicks, Level 1, 450 Elizabeth St, Melbourne, until April 21.

comedyfestival.com.au