He plays the unruly soprano sax with a clear, unsentimental but singing tone, and he writes pieces - with titles like "Wickets," "Stamps" and "The Dumps" - that are droll and asymmetrical, with more than a taste of Monk's sidelong catchiness.
Maha Haj's debut feature, "Personal Affairs," a low-key but pointed film that is simultaneously droll and sad, explores the lives of an extended family of Palestinian Israelis.
What we mean when we describe something as "very Alan Bennett" is that it is droll, sharp, overheard and unexpected – like the woman who a friend of mine caught discussing a play she'd just seen: "How did you like it?" asked her friend.
Here, Peter Scolari plays the lead role of Pseudolus, a slave who desires above all else to gain his freedom, in an engaging performance that is deadpan and droll, filled with understated comic gestures and low-key asides that work well in Bay Street's intimate space.
On his new single, The Pretty Pride of Russia, he creates - from the combination of rich string accompaniment, Schubertian piano and a lyric about the human-trafficked fate of the titular girl - a tableau that is at once droll and searingly poignant.
But in the quarter-century since its abortive debut, the play has quietly asserted itself as one of Mr Friel's finest works, an intricate theatrical puzzle that is at once a droll if ultimately shocking story and a wounding meditation on the nature of art.Mr Fiennes is first glimpsed in dimly lit profile, a shadowy presence with an even more elusive tale to tell.
These situations intersect in ways that are ruefully droll at first, then increasingly awkward as tensions rise.
But its real appeal lies in the rapport between the presenters, and the knowledge, warmth, enthusiasm and spontaneity that they bring to a programme that's as droll as it is musically enlightening.
The Private Eye photo caption (Diana, walking away from court, saying "I got custody of the quids") was enough to make a layman assume a victory for her lawyer, Anthony Julius; in fact, that is just the power of droll wordplay.
And Mama's sunflowers and food and coffee — and new-ironed dresses and hot baths and sleeping and waking up!" With its plain speaking that is at once philosophical, tender, droll, and cunning, "Our Town" brings news of that fragrant world — a world of moonlight and flowers and community and the extraordinariness of ordinary things.
