His career in presenting has really polished his stand-up performance not to mention giving him a free guaranteed laugh whenever X sees the Y.

Having started off his performance in the spare seats in the Theatre Royal Brighton mingling with the crowd, the main topic of conversation was parenthood.

It was the type of chat you get dragged into with mums and dads across the country where they want to talk about their kids and you really, really couldn't care less.

Thankfully it was short-lived and burst into a melee of anecdotes that made the family guests squirm in their seats as the Northerner held no punches.

A switch to prime-time TV could well have diluted Paddy McGuinness' material, but if anything his Saturday nights on Take Me Out have fuelled an inner beast inside him to spew horrendousness over anyone paying to sit in the audience.

You know you're nailing your gags when the reaction is a mixture of guffaws, tear-producing laughter and stone-cold offended silence.

He's a multi-layered funny-man who can present, act and produce a solid stand-up routine.

The latter probably isn't his strongest card, but he still delivers better than most on the circuit.

Four stars