Review by Steve Bennett

A newish act, Francis is a gloriously unpleasant, always inappropriate comic. Every cruel one-liner is so astonishingly, shockingly, brazenly sick that you have to admire this newcomer's sheer courage in touching such raw nerves.

These unapologetically tasteless gags are often blazingly topical, without the distance of time that would soften tragedy into comedy. It's a delicate line to tread, and he does sometime get it wrong, making the audience feel distinctly uncomfortable as he quips about domestic abuse or deaths in war zones.

Yet, when he judges it right, he manages to makes the tasteless remarkably funny, thanks o the courage of his convictions, his impenetrable on-stage aloofness, and some searing writing.

Review date: 25 May 2004
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett