Show Rating:

Craig, clad in kilt and Superman T-shirt, exploded into the show with a high energy and decidedly camp dance routine.

It was clear from the outset that this show was to be based upon superficial observations, presumably from his own personal experiences. And in the following hour Hill bitterly bitched about class (particularly his loathing for the working classes), fashion and his own poverty.

Whatever the topic, there was no escaping Hill's vitriol.

Over-confident Hill revels in barbed audience banter, almost bullying them into laughing, or be humiliated. Yet they seem to lap up ever bitter outpouting.

The show swung from unfunny horoscope readings to gossip about celebrity lives, namely Posh and Becks and the Liza Minnelli wedding (possibly the most unexpectedly hack topic of this festival) - all being condemned by the ever-apparent spiteful Hill, even though he appears to aspire to tread the very same path.

It can be forgiven when such derision is directed toward the rich and famous, but slightly more unsavoury when real social issues (disability, dysfunctional families and so on) are rubbished in such a throwaway manner.

Hill's show is ultimately a self-indulgent exercise that screams of a precocious inner-child who demands attention at whatever cost, it's content no more than bubble-gum issues and culminating in a song about being 'on the dole again' - a prospect I think Craig Hill fears more than anything.