Ed Byrne's remarkable likeness to Harry Potter made his chain-smoking and constant beer-swigging rather incongruous.

His ladsy manner (he said it, not me), gratuitous swearing and repertoire of jokes about porn, strippers and the infuriating nature of women could have rubbed people up the wrong way, as opening comic David Haddingham did at points.

But whether it was his self-effacing nature or his Irish accent (as David noted with exasperation, we didn't like it when he said the "C" word but from Ed it sounded like an endearment a mother might use), the audience lapped it up and were still whooping with laughter coming up to midnight.

There was no theme to the set and the gags weren't even that original or particularly clever - he opened with a series of quips about mobile phones - but Ed is one of the best observational comics on the stand-up circuit.

Whether he is ranting about checking in - and losing - baggage at the airport, the ins and outs of relationships or deconstructing today's pop scene, the Dublin comic's throw-away banter conceals sharp social satire.

Throughout the evening, you could hear the gasps of recognition from members of the audience as they wiped tears of laughter from their eyes.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening which left us all buzzing.