Everybody knows that if you don’t want to be picked on at a comedy club, you should avoid the front row. What they don’t tell you is anyone within a microphone lead’s length of the stage is fair game. Not that Bourgeois, of cabaret double act Bourgeois & Maurice, picked on many of us. However, when a performer chooses to dedicate a song to your companion, it can’t help but make an impression on you.

Even before that incident, Bourgeois was an intimidating, though slight, figure with his cut-glass accent and a dangerous glint in his eye beneath the layers of false lashes. However, though cruel, his humour was acutely observed and his songs often poignant, capturing everything from our obsession with material things to our deliberations over every aspect of our mundane lives.

Looking like an anorexic Liza Minnelli, Bourgeois cut a somewhat tragic figure beneath his heavily made-up facade, while pianist Maurice left the audience interaction (though not all the outrageous costumes) to her partner.

I didn’t know what to expect from Bougeois & Maurice and I certainly got the unexpected: a performance that was sometimes funny, sometimes moving and sometimes terrifying but always enjoyable – even through gritted teeth.