Jimmy Carr, Weymouth Pavilion , August 23

Comeback king of comedy Jimmy Carr is fielding semi-intelligible heckles from the audience. It’s a sport he loves and if you’re brave or drunk enough to try it, beware because he’ll cut you down in seconds and then continue to maul you throughout the show.

Sam, two rows in front of me, will certainly regret having the temerity to make a comment about Jimmy’s hair for he was then mercilessly mocked at various points in the two-hour performance.

One of his comeback lines from a previous show has been made into a t-shirt which I spotted someone wearing in the foyer. Why anyone would want to wear something so obscene is beyond me. Completely unrepeatable in a family newspaper, Jimmy could never say it again with the same effect but, hey, good marketing.

Jimmy’s show is definitely not family entertainment. You’re mum most definitely wouldn’t like. It’s pretty much pure filth right throughout. He doesn’t care what he says and as he explains to us if we writes something down that makes him laugh then it’s in the show.

Strange thing about Jimmy though is that he seems to be hiding behind the wiseguy image without revealing either his true personality or what he really believes in. He’s essentially a smutty joke machine.

The stage set is a bit strange. He performs with a radio mike in front of an enormous and cartoonish image of himself with his creepy smile. Then there are two easy armchairs on the left of the stage set up as if for an interview and a tombola barrel on the table on the right. Why? None are used in the show.

Jimmy likes to involve the audience as much as possible and we are encouraged to text him messages, jokes, or heckles. The best ones are then projected onto enormous screen and some are actually funnier that some of JC’s one liners.

But you’ve got to admire the master of the pithy putdown, someone who can take complete control of an audience of 500 plus without a crack in his persona.

Graham James