Steve Hall

He admits that despite a Catholic-Jewish background made up of Scottish, Irish and Ukrainian genes, he has the typical reserve of the English lower-middle-class, socially awkward and not good with confrontation. Or in his own, typically mild, words, he’s ‘too much of a wally’.

The one time he did stand up for himself – knowing that he could do so safely on an Australian railway platform – is regaled here, though it naturally ends in humiliation. Elsewhere there are tales of his long-distance relationship, of encroaching middle age, and of his ‘wonderfully mental dad’ – which must be a common trait of former We Are Klang members, given Greg Davies’s storming show on his mad father.

Often it’s Hall’s wife or surprisingly homophobic dad who comes up with the best lines, either by accident or design, and Hall comes across as a second-hand reporter of funny comments; although his comedy editor is well-tuned, and he only serves up the best of what he hears.

The show loses its way a bit in the final quarter, not particularly helped by his low-key delivery, but there’s a good few chuckles on the way. And he is giving the world the below-the-belt slang phrase ‘squid beak’, and for that we should be grateful.