Gavin Webster's Faldarel

Upon completing his hour-long set, Gavin Webster, for no other reason than that he's a nice chap, stands at the exit of the venue and hands out free bread to the departing audience. “Get yer free bread!” he exclaims. “It's good bread, this is.” He sounds like a Geordie Oxfam worker, divvying out food parcels to impoverished festival-goers. And having since made several sandwiches with it, this writer is happy to confirm that it was indeed 'good bread'.

This was not part of Webster's show. During the preceding hour there was no mention of the forthcoming giveaway. Instead, he talks a lot about Geordies being good-humoured, well-intentioned people who nonetheless like to stick to the rules. “I like a bit of fun,” Webster admits, “but there's a limit! Imagine Paul Gascoigne raised by Methodist parents. That's me.” By extension, he theorises Geordies would have made excellent Nazis. “I don't like that boy Hitler, but he's the boss, ye kna?”

Part surrealist, part traditional stand-up, Webster delivers a well-written, cannily observed set that is big on laughs and keeps the audience gripped throughout. He veers off on tangents at exactly the right time, and always knows when it's time to crack another joke. “A friend said to me, 'Gavin, do you like pastiche?' And I said 'Aye, and I like sausage rolls as well.” A very funny comic, Webster is certainly earning his crust at this year's Fringe.