It's scary to think, but it’s now 15 years since cult Channel Four sitcom Father Ted first graced our television screens.

And for Ardal O’Hanlon the spectre of the ever-confused Father Dougal has haunted him ever since.

It was a much more confident and intelligent Irishman who took the stage on Thursday night.

Veering from Ted-like surrealism to spot-on topical observations, he even, at one point, when talking about the Catholic paedophile scandal, stated “you can’t even admit to being a fictional priest”.

Dressed in a suit and purple shirt “borrowed from Archbishop Desmond Tutu”, O’Hanlon effortlessly moved between topics in the first half of a 90-minute set.

The freeform approach mixed old material, about going to a restaurant with his wife for an argument, with observations on how the credit crunch had taken the media focus off the obese, and surreal flights of fancy – such as Ryanair trying to charge him for emotional baggage.

The second half was much more structured, covering pregnancy and children, going from the initial conception through to the reality of living with tweenies.

He developed both strands of the show with his encore, which blamed the ultra-scary Irish folk tales read to children for how his home nation had turned out.

Some stand-ups badger their audiences into submission with a barrage of slick material, while others rely on innate likeability to carry them through. O’Hanlon is certainly of the latter camp.

But with great gags and one-liners at his fingertips he deserves to be better known for his stand-up skills, rather than his television CV.