Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It was the decade of big hair, of shoulder pads and Dynasty, of power dressing, Dallas and sweat bands, the 80s may have been responsible for many ills that many remember but it was also a decade that for those who swam in its swirling mists with glee and possible terror will never forget.

Much loved and admired stand up comedian Patrick Monahan is one such person to whom the decade touched in many different ways, a man who brings sheer delight to the eyes and ears of his audience by bringing as much of the show to the potential weight that music and dancing has over people, a man whose very background, his origins of Iranian and Irish, make him the perfect observer of the insanity wrought by fear and conflict in that decadent decade; there really is nobody better suited to make you enjoy your time at the Edinburgh Fringe than someone who can combine the two driving forces of human nature, war and dancing.

Patrick Monahan’s That 80s Show is dominant, resplendent, the gilt edged Volkswagen medallion gifted to the audience and one that steals every laugh, but also reminds the crowd of the dangers that were faced everyday, of how the British moved seamlessly from having feared anybody who was Irish, to everyone who looked Middle Eastern, the power of conflict went hand in hand with the psyche of big music hits that reflected the times perfectly.

Patrick Monahan has a unique ability; he brings people together not only by making them laugh but by taking them out of themselves and making them dance. Whereas some comedians will make the audience dance to their tune and leave them spinning in glee in their seats, Mr. Monahan brings them out of their selves and makes them want to dance to resolve any possible conflict.

It is in the realisation of such natural authority that people relax and even if the decade was one in which anybody caught up in its sometimes icy grip, the nuclear standoff of the Cold War, the Iran-Iraq War, tensions between Pakistan and India, the discontent that brewed between Great Britain and Ireland, all these are but clouded thoughts when you can see an Argentinean gentleman dancing and throwing moves happily with a woman from Iran and a serious Scottish groover.

Funny, poignant, remarkable, Patrick Monaghan is a true hit of the Edinburgh Fringe.

Ian D. Hall