Review by Steve Bennett

With more zest and verve than a hyperactive seven-year-old on a bouncy castle, Rouse energises the room from the moment he bounds on stage.

Loud enough to give you tinnitus, he romps around his playground of a stage, excitedly showing off all his comedy toys.

It's impossible not to like him - even though you almost certainly won't be laughing as much as he does, with half-a-dozen chuckles infesting every sentence.

For all his enthusiasm and silliness, Rouse's no-brainer japery lacks that extra kick that would propel it from good-natured banter to good, solid comedy.

The material in the stand-up bits revolves around his 'man breasts', the sad characters who populate Robot Wars and the unnatural luminosity of Sunny Delight. It's reasonable enough, but the punchlines need more than a few cheeky Morecambesque wobbles of the glasses to elevate them.

There are some good lines under the relentlessly in-yer-face bluster, but some really lacklustre ones as well. Whatever the quality, though Rouse always supplies his own laughter track in the hope others will join in.

But regardless of the merits or otherwise of what precedes it, Rouse has to have one of the best finales in town.

It would spoil the fun to reveal any of the details, other than to say it's a perfect way to employ Rouse's larger-than-life idiocy, and leaves a ridiculously silly image that will haunt you for months.

Review date: 1 Jan 2002
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett