Original Review:

Show Rating:

This show is critic-proof. It would be possible to describe it as amateurishly staged and presented with a piano, cello, violin and accordian accompaniment that remind you a little of a tea-dance circa 1933. But that would be to miss the point.

This is a labour of love billed as "a poignant tribute" by Murray’s daughter Annabelle to one of Britain's few solid gold comic geniuses.

With walls lined by Moss Empires posters, photos and letters from the BBC plus copious television and radio clips of Chic performing, this is a unique sampler from a man now mostly forgotten by English audiences but regarded as a comedy heroby such disparate people as Billy Connolly, Spike Milligan and Robbie Coltrane. He was one of the few massively successful Scottish comedy stars to make any significant impact in England.

His daughter rightly says Chic could not only say funny lines but could say lines funny. He scattered razor-sharp one-liners amid gently meandering stories and had a mastery of timing second to none.

With Tommy Cooper, he is possible the greatest comedians' comedian of the 20th century and this show, with personal reminiscences, is a template for a fascinating TV documentary.