Review by Steve Bennett

Beaumont has a wealth of experience, giving him an easy stage manner and unaggressively assured command of the audience.

But while it's hard to fault his performance, the material is easier prey. His stock-in-trade is the one-liner - not so much the carefully crafted pun, but more the formalised, structured joke of an earlier generation.

There's plenty of them, too, but quality has been sacrificed for quantity. While there's a couple of gems, they are buried beneath an almost insurmountable heap of so-so material, based on the received wisdom of a hundred comics before him. An early joke about Lorena Bobbitt - a subject that was hack within days of the story breaking, let alone a decade later - sets the unfortunate tone.

The relentless waves of uncomplicated punchlines, combined with the friendly, chatty manner can wear down the defences, producing chuckles from mere persistence. Though as the set progresses further, boredom sets in.

The easy-going manner, bitty structure and undemanding content suggest Beaumont makes a solid compere, but in full-length set, the limits of his material are exposed.

Review date: 1 Mar 2003
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett