What is the nearest sensation to being a bird that a human can feel … without surgery?

Simon Munnery’s answer to this was part of what he described as a tedious conversation, which nevertheless had the audience spluttering with laughter thanks to its repetition and banality.

Munnery had devised multiple ways he could begin the show, so – referring back to his notebook for guidance - he performed all of them in quick succession.

Never content with a simple set-up and punchline format, his elaborate references and callbacks elicited slow ripples of chuckling as different audience members got the joke.

Losing the use of his left hand following an ice-skating accident, Munnery wryly demonstrated, made a mockery of his Nazi saluting.

His revised, minimalist can-can dance was the most hilarious sequence of the night, as he attempted to don the elaborate homemade contraption combining a leg-kick with a flash of underwear.

The self-conscious, amateur slapstick, confusion around the upside-down strappy harness and long lead-in to an extremely quick payoff were terrific.

Whether angrily riffing on the right-wing political phrase “decent, hard-working people”, or linking unconnected concepts under the squawked headline Phrases That Irk Me Somewhat, this unpredictable show contained a lot to enjoy.

Four stars