Ricky Gervais: Fame, Festival Theatre, 17 Jan

Taking timely umbrage with the disposable nature of celebrity and the Big Brother generation, it's an easy enough topic for Ricky Gervais to broach these days. The success of Extras and his unprecedented stateside translation show he's in it for the long haul. As with previous tours, tonight Gervais rarely relies on the topic emblazoned across his posters to underpin the comedy, using the moniker of 'Fame' as mere distraction while he danders around the more familiar terrain of political correctness gone apeshit. "What kind of society has to remind people not to go raping?" he poses, bewildered, before moving on to matters of dubious celeb-lore and the equally as bewildering thought of whether or not Richard Gere keeps hamsters up his ass. All the while Gervais remains effectively laid-back, while characteristically feeding his own ego as often as he pokes fun at the curious but emblematic comedy icon he has steadily become. [Dave Kerr]