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Simon Munnery, comedy review: Fun and flights of fancy from a true maverick

Maverick: Simon Munnery's set is plenty of fun, if in need of extra zip
Maverick: Simon Munnery's set is plenty of fun, if in need of extra zip

One of the most enjoyable shows at the Edinburgh Festival last summer was a special retrospective gig by Simon Munnery marking three decades as a stand-up. His shorter touring set, Standing Still, is also something of an overview, mainly looking backwards rather than forwards. Plenty of fun, if in need of extra zip.

This comedian's comedian does, however, have enough talent – and old material – up his sleeve to keep his fans largely amused for an hour. He occasionally veers towards the scattershot, but he is a master of the unexpected, donning a jacket festooned with empty cider cans or quoting WB Yeats while wearing a seabird on his head.

He should take the audience into account more though. You need to sit near the front or pack a telescope to appreciate his lo-fi illustrations and a colourful anecdote about a memorable benefit gig mentioned lesser known comic Scott Agnew without explaining who Agnew was. Yet there are well-crafted jokes too, such as this antique classic: "The Birmingham Six are free, when will the rest of Birmingham be free?"

Munnery can be both obscure and accessible. He unearths humour in the Peasant's Revolt and finds it in more traditional comedy subjects such as iPhones, parenting and romance. A closing routine imagining a painfully mundane sub-Alan Bennett conversation between two people on a date lasted so long it started getting boring the got funny all over again.

He was a little underpowered tonight, but at his best he is one of comedy’s finest outsider mavericks in the tradition of Spike Milligan. There is also a distinct hint of Noel Fielding in some of his poetry and flights of fancy. If you like the future Bake Off host why not sample this great British eccentric?

Until Saturday, Soho Theatre; sohotheatre.com