Dylan Moran weaves a ribbon of smoke through the air as he gesticulates with a smoldering cigarette in hand. "I don't even have lungs in here," the Irish comic says after an ugly coughing spell. "There are just two pieces of flatbread."
Perhaps a gulp of wine will calm his throat. A glass awaits, at any rate, atop the tall bar table that provides virtually the only stage decoration for his stand-up comedy program "Monster." Tut-tutting sobriety, which he claims to find overrated, he cites "the damage it can do, over the years."
An evening with this comic -- who, in his middle 30s, resembles a young Dudley Moore -- is like a night spent pub-crawling with a particularly amusing friend.
After touring Europe with his show and performing it off-Broadway, Moran is making his West Coast debut at UCLA. Familiar to Britons as star and co-writer of the sitcom "Black Books," he remains lesser known in America, though he may be recognized for playing a nerdy slacker in the zombie flick "Shaun of the Dead" or for his small role as Rufus the thief in "Notting Hill."
He launched Thursday's performance with observations about his host city. "I don't know enough about L.A. to insult you in detail," he said before proclaiming it a city of "lost, junk-food souls."
He then broadened his commentary to America and its politics. "I don't want to get too serious too early," he announced, pausing for dramatic effect before plunging ahead with: "Let's talk about Iraq."
Subsequent topics included languages (French "makes everything sound illegal," he noted, while German "sounds like people who are on fire") and liquors (vodka is "one of those stealth drinks"; gin is "not really a drink -- it's more of a mascara thinner").
All the while, Moran looked as though he'd stumbled to the stage straight from bed. The untucked tail of his shirt cascaded below his suit jacket, and his longish, tousled hair became more rumpled as he distractedly ran a hand through it. Sleepy-eyed, he couldn't muster much more facial expression than a look of mild constipation.
He touched upon such issues as American overconsumption and religion but kept circling back to male-female relationships, fraught as they are with excitement as well as tension.
