DUB-LINERS

If Owen O'Neill ever contemplates posterity, presumably he rules out any but the most gargantuan epitaphs and plaques. There would be just too many job descriptions to fit on to those of standard size. Yesterday, he was set to deliver a mock-history of Irish Literature at Glasgow's CCA, inviting his audience to admit to the tediums of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett and relish the likes of "that big farmer with the big hands and the big heart, Patrick Kavanagh". A showcase, no doubt, for the skills that have made O'Neill (right) a live cert for a good night out over the last few years - as stand-up, actor and writer. But also a chance to remind us that the 42- year-old has a taste for poetry (as evidenced by his distaste for Yeats's reading style). Tonight, after the distractions of winning the first LWT comedy writing award for Off My Face, his one-man crawl through alcoholism at this year's Edinburgh Festival, he will snort not a few lines of verse, including seven or eight as yet unsampled numbers. As a writing buddy of Sean Hughes (they wrote a play, St Patrick's Day, in 1991 and are currently in "development hell" on a BBC six-parter), you can expect the material to display dollops of humour and more than a little morose angst. He will be appearing alongside one of Ireland's foremost performance poets, Rita Ann Higgins. "My agent keeps pressing me to write a novel," O'Neill says. "Maybe next year." Let's hope he draws the line there (who knows, perhaps a gallery will commission him).

Owen O'Neill and Rita Ann Higgins, tonight, 8pm. `Dub Lines', CCA's Irish Lit Fest continues to 3 Oct, Sauchiehall St, Glasgow (0141- 332 7521) Dominic Cavendish