John Shuttleworth's most recent show One Foot In The Gravy, saw him harking back to the past in a droll monologue while constantly reminding his audience "the end is nigh".
His creator, Graham Fellows, appeared on stage as his alter-ego in a nerdy red polo neck, beige slacks and slip-on shoes with slick-backed hair and horn-rimmed specs.
Straight away, the South Yorkshire-man was off on a rant about earthquakes, the petrol crisis and global warming using the diction of an educated gent. He interspersed his fears about Armageddon with commentary about his dinner lady wife Mary and his agent Ken.
In between, he sat down at his Yamaha keyboard and sang. His ditties included one about a carvery restaurant called Mary Had A Little Lamb and another about Ken's camping trip with his wife - "eggs and gammon, poor Rhiannon, Ken had wind".
On each occasion he broke into song, John Shuttleworth would order Paul and Pudsey the lighting crew to put on the mirror ball and brighten or dim particular lights in his characteristic soft tone of a kitsch cabaret singer.
The audience bubbled with laughter throughout the show like a kettle close to the boil.
Gardner Arts Centre, Univeristy Of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, Saturday
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