Sean Hughes, ABC Glasgow, 16 March

Asked by his girlfriend, after a drunken argument: 'do you want me to stay or go?' Sean Hughes tells us his ill-advised, although admirably honest, response was 'a bit of both'. It is this unfortunate sentiment that characterises Hughes' much heralded return to stand-up. After eight years away, Hughes has clearly lost none of his contagious, good natured charm. He can still craft beautiful lines, but there is a distinctly pedestrian feeling about this gig. It's not that Sean Hughes is a poor comedian, nothing could be further from the truth; it's just that he only reveals what separates him from his contemporaries in fleeting glimpses. And whether it's an acute observation about recent cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, or musings on the effects of eastern immigration on London, it shows that on his game Sean Hughes can be as good a performer as anyone. 'Do you want me to stay or go?' If Hughes can turn his focus to consistently producing the tight jokes and hilariously skewed observations we know he is capable of, then the answer is definitely 'stay'. [Craig Hamilton]