This young upstart will no doubt be referred to as a "rock 'n' roll" comedian just because of his music references and his personal interests. The last comedian widely revered as rock 'n' roll was the immortal Bill Hicks, who also referred to music a lot and how commercial pop music was tame and soulless, but Hicks had eccentric and passionate performances and had the cutting edge of extremely risqué material.
O'Neill and Hicks
O’Neil and Hicks both refer to music they love in their performances and broadcasts, and exhibit the passion that have for these artists. Where Hicks would praise the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and the like, O’Neill refers to bands (e.g. Led Zeppelin) in his blogs and one particular act involves getting the audience to clap and stamp their feet rhythmically to recreate "We Will Rock You" by Queen.
Andrew O’Neill is similar in outlook to Hicks, but O’Neill is too much of an archetypal Brit to be as flamboyant and disturbing as Hicks. Comes across as being a bit of a cheeky cockney lad and utilises some age old British style humour from time to time.
A funny lovechild between Devin Townsend and Bill Bailey
One might say that Andrew is a cross between balding metal guru Devin Townsend and also balding South West comedian Bill Bailey – similar to this hypothetical half-father, O’Neil has outbursts of very short, surreal and mainly ad lib filler, in between more planned material. Whether they are breathers to put the mental train back on its tracks, or just hilarious nervous ticks, they prove very entertaining in the impromptu and most random sense of the word.
Drawing on the current ASBO/Chav mentality and surrounding folklore, Andrew similar to many contemporary British comedians turn their real life encounters with so called ‘chavs’ and turn them into an amusing anecdote, epitomised by Andrew’s “Say something clever!!” sketch.
Performing with Steve Coogan
As the man himself likes to reiterate, he was in the BBC comedy Saxondale starring Steve Coogan which was about an ageing rocker still trying to keep his cool and impress people. Also having regular appearances on BBC Radio with the likes of Blue Peter and Big Breakfast veteran Richard Bacon, O’Neill is steadily clawing his way up the British comedy ladder.
Mr O’Neill is a young comedian still in the infancy of his career, but with such promise. A wide appeal potential to the alternative demographic will no doubt ensure waves will be made when this comedian reaches a bigger audience. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see O’Neill as a panellist on one of the ever popular Quizcom shows such as 8 Out Of 10 Cats or Mock the Week.
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