Reginald D Hunter

This show was actually a little saddening.

Not for the cries of misogynism are getting some critics' knickers in a twist (I didn't find it particularly sexist), but because Reginald D Hunter has in previous shows been such an ebullient character, one with such fire in his belly.

Now he seems world-weary, disillusioned, angry at what the world has become and his impotence to do anything about it, and it is all the more marked when set against his louche, laid-back style.

He has always tackled 'big' subjects, and No Country For Grown Men is no different. On his mind now is the weakness of men, and the inability of men to be men in a world of unnecessary rules, moral panic, pathetic leaders and, it seems, the inability for society to appreciate that men and women are different.

Doesn't sound very funny does it? Well Hunter, from Streatham, is a master craftsman and a born public speaker - you simply couldn't imagine him fluffing a line - and is able to glean laughs from the most unlikely of subjects, such as his struggle to keep a healthy relationship with his 12-year-old niece while he imagines passers-by branding him a paedophile, and some twisted admiration for Josef Fritzl's distinctly unmanly traits.

If you want a comfortable hour's comedy where you will agree with everything the comic says, this isn't for you.

Hunter is aggressive and uncompromising and has a lot to say. I think that's a good thing, and he is still an incredibly confident performer, but this is slightly too much a rant and not enough a comedy show, particularly from a man who has set himself such high standards.

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