A comedian specialising in deadpan one liners could have been quite a tricky prospect for a two hour show, but Milton Jones managed to entertain effortlessly at the Theatre Royal Brighton. Creating an alter ego in his ‘uncle’ Randalph Rigby Jones was a clever device which had the audience creased with laughter from the start.

After a low key but proficient turn from support comedian Chris Stokes we were treated to an hour of the loud-shirt-crazy-hair absurdist in surreal, full on storytelling mode.

Hardly pausing for breath, the Mock The Week regular related the whimsical tale of an archaeologist whose ‘career was in ruins’, as gag after perfectly timed gag tripped off his tongue.

Although wordplay is such a major part of his act, the visual nature of Jones’s humour was also pleasingly strong as he cleverly weaved strands together into an (almost) cohesive - if utterly bizarre - whole.

With so much material, there’s always the chance of ‘losing’ people in the audience but the occasional self-deprecating comment cleverly brought us back, and skilful use of audience participation added to the delight. This hugely likeable comedian was truly mining comedy gold.

Spell-binding.

Five stars