Stephen K Amos at the Soho Theatre

I have seen Stephen K Amos a couple of times before and assured my young colleague it would be a good night just because of the banter with the audience. By the end of the show he understood what I meant. And he thought he was hilarious. Which he was. The show flashed by very easily. Would be hard to imagine a more pleasant way to spend an hour.

Now "pleasant" sounds a bit damning with faint praise, but it's not meant to be. It is not just that Stephen is funny, but he is just very likeable with it. And not in a cosy Michael MacIntyre family audience way, He does have a go at his audience, but not in a cruel way. In a "joshing down the pub with your mates" sort of way. And one suspects that every show he does will be very different even if he starts with the same material, as he gets easily diverted. In this show partly by a bloke eating peanuts in the front row.

He is one of those comics you need to see live and in a small space.

And afterwards, as my mate and I settled into the bar upstairs for a pint after the show, up he comes for a drink with his friends, so we go over and have a brief chat. That doesn't happen at Michael MacIntyre gigs at Wembley either. Turns out Mr Amos started life as a lawyer too. Wonder if its too late....