Tez Ilyas, comedy review: Passionate and thoughtful riffing on Brexit and race

If you are never more than ten feet from a rat in London you are currently never more than five feet from a comedian riffing about Brexit and race. Tez Ilyas is another name on the list, but a welcome addition.

The topics might be well-trod terrain yet in Made In Britain the Blackburn-born muslim of Pakistani descent certainly has a distinctive angle. Sporting a smart suit and ultra-slick patter he is equally light entertainer and heavyweight pontificator. His set ends with a spoof game show. In a few years he may well be presenting a genuine one.

Before this enjoyably silly finale the former civil servant has much to say regarding identity and integration. His parents had an arranged marriage and two children. Unusually they divorced while still in their teens. His mother typically wanted him to be a GP, he explains. He would rather be Doctor Who.

He jokily muddles up Lenny Henry and Idris Elba and is comically conflicted about Benedict Cumberbatch, who he admires but worries that he is taking Asian jobs by playing Shere Khan in the Jungle Book remake.

Ilyas is articulate, passionate, thoughtful and also crowdpleasingly teasing, mocking his own modest fame by dubbing himself a legend and his fans “Tezbians”. If Made In Britain is any guide there will be lots more Tezbians very soon.

Until Saturday, Soho Theatre; sohotheatre.com