As a rule, politically astute comics tend to be negative sorts, working themselves into a fervour as they angrily attack greed and injustice wherever they see it.

While Paul Sinha shares that passion, there is, however, a rare optimism to his smart comedy. Yes, we see thugs and bigots everywhere, but they are the unpleasant minority. Most people are basically decent and tolerant in Sinha’s experience.

Talking of minorities, he ticks more than a couple of boxes himself, being a gay, overweight, Bengali doctor, but he’s as far away from the stubbornly enduring stereotype tha all gay comics must be hig hcamp, bitchy an dimage-fixated asit’s possible to imagine.

His experiences inform his act, of course, and the broad acceptance of his sexuality and his family’s welcome to British life are cause, he says, for hope. His own behaviour, however, is not always so exemplary, and the confessional anecdotes of saying or doing the wrong thing when drunk or out on the pull provide a personal note offer contrast to the big ideas that underpin the rest of his set.

His material is impressively far-reaching, swinging from religious fundamentalism to Britain’s Got Talent in the blink of an eye. Such flips from the profound to the trivial are symptomatic of his intelligent, liberal and irreverent comedy.

As for delivery, Sinha has a good bedside manner: engaging, friendly and honest. He talks with great urgency, but then again, he needs to, as he often has a lot of set-up to pack in. The pace means the punchlines are still frequent, while still allowing him to advance an argument.

Full of bright ideas, with a ready wit and a compelling pace, Sinha proves comedy with a conscience doesn’t need to be preachy, and that being smart needn’t compromise the funny.