Review by Steve Bennett

By unfortunate coincidence, Penny has the exact same accent as Ricky Gervais ­ a resemblance that he exacerbates by following a similar line of sneery political incorrectness in his act.

But it's not just Gervais; Penny sounds like a score of other comics, with familiar material on familiar topics. A couple of feedlines are identical to others' work, even if the punchlines are subtly different.

His material also needs judicial editing. For example, a substantial segment about the homeless is surrounded a hefty but redundant waffle explaining where you see these people, how many there are these days and how unfortunate it all is ­ as if explaining some alien concept to the audience. 'So I saw this homeless guy' would do the trick in a fraction of the time.

That said, for a newcomer Penny has a relaxed confidence on stage ­ even if that's not yet translated into real presence ­ and is by no means the worst of his peers, as he does at least have indentifiable jokes.

Review date: 1 May 2004
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett