Wil Anderson - Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, Hammersmith Until December 21
Like a horse bolting out of a gate, Wil Anderson's frenetic repertoire was bursting from his brain on the opening night of his opening show.
While nothing was off limits - presidents and prime ministers, tick; relationships and break-ups, tick; the Iraq War, tick; reality television, tick - there was no stooping to below-the-belt quips as comedians often do, leaving their audience resentful they'd paid to watch someone's depraved uncle given a stage.
The Australian (he wore flip flops) is widely applauded for his machine-gun pace, and is a former co-host of a successful national morning radio programme.
He tested the crowd of 20-30-somethings with an encapsulation of Aussie humour: "On the back of a public toilet door you'll see written 'I f***ed your mum', but underneath someone has written 'Dad, you're pissed. Go home'.
The crowd doubles over.
Yep, most of them are his countrymen and he is in familiar hands, but they are by no means immune as targets: "In Australia we have a citizens test and if you become an Australian you have to have Australian values, so that means when it comes to the test, just take a sickie."
And there was no favoritism, because there was a pop at the Brits, too: "The Government sends letters home to parents to tell them their kids are fat but if they can't see that already, they probably can't read the letter - they should send a lettuce instead."
Anderson's sunsoaked, razor-sharp schoolboy humour is an hour-long antidote to Britain's winter misery.
Your bellies will ache with laughter, but he'll show no mercy.
* Performances daily at 8pm, Sundays 7pm (no show Monday December 15). Tickets: Wed, Thurs & Sun £16.50/ £14.50 concs, Fri & Sat all tickets £16.50. Cheap Tuesday £12.50.
To book, call the box office on 020 8237 1111 or see www.riversidestudios.co.uk .
