He opened by saying he wanted to get away from the style of comedy that has seen him rise to stardom, and then continued on an hour-and-a-half tirade about the Middle East.

It works for him, but sometimes the constant reference to his Iranian roots can get tiresome.

His warm-up act was brilliant, and as my guest made her way back to her seat after a visit to the bathroom, she found herself at the centre of his act.

When he was done slating her, the main event made his entrance wearing a three-piece suit and a giant-collared white shirt which – as he pointed out – made him look like an oversized penguin.

You’ve got to admire the way he can use the political hotbed that is the Middle East to churn out laughs, and he did get lots of laughs.

He’s an effortlessly funny man on stage, but punchlines don’t always have to be delivered by shouting so loud it makes his audience cower.

His scripted material which has made him so popular was – like his TV and DVD appearances – bold, brash and very funny.

But we saw a side of audience participation that doesn’t come over through the screen.

After leaving a box on stage for the audience to post questions to him, as part of his encore he raced through dozens of them with gag after gag.

Some of the questions got bigger laughs than the answers - I’m not sure that says more about his off-the-cuff talent or the Brighton crowd.