Paul Foot

This doesn't happen for a good 20 minutes but in that time he has won the audience over with his OCD-like preparations and his description of the applause he expects to get at certain stages, one level corresponding to how much we would applaud a certain historical event (to give it away would spoil one of the best jokes of the night).

When finally on stage Foot reads some prepared material from postcards, including one half-yarn or ‘glimpse of comedy’, about an accident-prone prostitute. Soon after, he introduces a brilliant time-wasting wheeze, a toy stick horse, that, depending on which way it is held, determines whether Foot will speak English or gobbledygook or a mix of both.

There can be little doubt that Paul Foot has got some front when it comes to wasting the time of his audience, groping around for inspiration or embarking on semi-improvised musings on the virtues of lever arch files. At times prancing and pathetic, at other times eloquent and inspired, the lasting impression of the show is an enjoyable bemusement.

If that can be the case even when you know what he's about, well that must mean he is doing something right, mustn't it?