Craig Hill

Craig Hill puts it better than I dare. Makin' a Song and Dance is, without doubt, a "poofy show." Leather-kilted, limp-wristed, crotch-thrusting and eye-winking, Craig Hill aims straight at a not-so-straight audience.

So, after dancing for a solid three minutes, Hill's show continues in a similar vein: in-jokes about the Glasgow and Edinburgh 'scenes' (apparently it's laughable to cite Edinburgh as a favourite); comparisons of the relative butchness of audience members (I've added "bear" to my non-wildlife vocabulary). It's undeniably camp stuff, darling.

When Hill does edge away from niche material, however, one can't help but feel that the jokes must surely have reached the ears of both gay and straight audiences numerous times before. The woman who provides the voice for in-car sat-nav is, apparently a "dirty bitch"; a brief foray into politics is far from biting satire, revealing little more than the fact that Hill "likes Gordon Brown." Big Deal.

But, somehow, Hill manages to draw hysterical laughter from the most crass observations. The proficiency of his comic timing, his superb physical humour, the wry smile and peeking tongue that accompany the cheesiest of punchlines. All are recruited to keep the audience bent with laughter. Add to this his very shrewd selection of material for a very specific audience and it is hard to deny that Hill is clearly a talented performer.

Despite the mincing, it's a little unfair to label Craig Hill just a gay comic. He's obviously aware of the image he somewhat energetically projects, making reference to behaviour that is "in the book of gay," or giggling about "catching" gayness. Still, a high literacy level in the "book of gay" is required to reap much enjoyment from this one.