Advait Kirtikar is watching his audience arrive from the back of the Cavern Club and by 7.00pm he’s ready to mess with us, especially the front row. Kirtikar’s red sneakers and red and white striped top are a part answer, he tells us, to the identity problem suggested by the title of his show: Who Dis?

We get a riff on his name including a range of the typical mispronunciations he gets. Shouldn’t we be relieved that every syllable gets pronounced?  We get to hear about autism, though he doesn’t quite own up to it. Are you autistic or do you have autism? is one of his linguistic observations. 

Then he reaches his main topic of the evening – girlfriends. And how to get one. Or several. Pick-up lines are important, though none of his seem to work. But note: supermarkets and wall climbing activities are likely spots for encounters.

There are further cultural references and questions deriving from them, before Kirtikar is drawn irresistibly, it seems, back to his chief preoccupation of dating possibilities. By now we’re not going to take pick-up lines too seriously and, in any case, they smack of desperation. “Did I say anything that would end with an exclamation mark?” he asks. Well, maybe!

Ultimately, though surprisingly, religion comes to the rescue. Our performer acknowledges Jehovah’s Witnesses but comes out on the side of the only true religion – Hindu. He doesn’t even leave us guessing why.

I have just one quibble with this performance. Kirtikar’s delivery is fast-paced and words are run together, making for a degree of inaudibility. It’s possible that use of the microphone doesn’t help – it’s a craft that needs a lot of practice.

Performers of every kind must remember that audiences are hearing their material for the first time. Diction is supremely important. We don’t want to miss a word, which is why a slightly slower pace of delivery would enhance an already amusing and entertaining performance.  

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