The Inane Chicanery of a Certain Adam GC Riches

What a joy it is to take in an Adam Riches show; it's a brilliant hour of inspired nonsense. As the woman next to me noted, sometimes you even don't know why you're laughing. It's hard to tell amid the free-wheeling lunacy of it all.

Anyone who has seen Riches before won't be too surprised by the apparently ad hoc shenanigans and innovative character comedy here. The script is loose, full of ridiculous notions, but the characters themselves are carefully presented with detailed tics and quirks. The man with an obsession for penmanship who makes an involuntary noise akin to a perverted horse. The waitress at a diner where they appear to have run out of forks.

The show relies heavily on audience participation and almost derails at the beginning when Riches selects his first victim – it's always a danger with a slightly sozzled Friday night crowd but Riches as Gerard Butler (or 'Gerry B.') soon whips them into line. Besides, that unpredictability is all part of the charm. Plus a chunk of the humour is derived from quite how far he pushes the boundaries of which bits of outrageousness he gets them to do, though it's usually Riches himself who does the truly horrifying bits.

Like travelling downhill at 70mph in a Transit with loose wheels, you'll get there in the end but it'll be a scary, breathtaking and exhilarating ride.