Lunchtime Laffs and Lattes

Free food is a great way to butter up your audience, even if the soup is unidentifiably orange and the joke that the sandwiches are leftovers from Thursday a little too believable .

The comedy selection offered even more options than the meal, although only selected courses proved satisfying. Simon Donald entertained with both halves of his segment: after embodying a gormless survey-taker, he perched on the back of the sofa to expose the highlights of Viz magazine's advertising policy. Charlie Ross and Jay Lafferty zipped through in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-them kind of way, offering a chirpy take on a classic comedy sketch, while Andy Askins achieved the seemingly impossible when he earned laughter for mime jokes. (On the other hand, I found riffing on the best way to backhand an eleven-year-old less ‘edgy’ than ‘tasteless and disturbing’.)

Alan Anderson and Scott Agnew successfully compered the show, though someone needs to pursue Agnew with a hammer and nails and fix his feet to the floor, because he meanders enough to cause seasickness.