Comedy

Adam Riches performs much of this curious character piece on crutches or from a wheelchair. Even a broken leg and a visit to A&E early in his run didn't stop the show – that's how much of a real Alpha Male he is.

Or maybe his collection of damaged, obsolete, lantern-jawed alter-egos won't let him stop. The first two are strongest – big game hunter O'Hara, who “sees with his eyes and kills with his eyes” and talks about himself in the third person, and a dead-eyed late-night quiz show host whose life descends into Kafkaesque horror as callers torment him with ever more abusive answers.

Things soon become more dependent on the dreaded audience participation, though, with washed-up boyband member Teddy Dish, late of Dayz Of The Year (“I was February 29th – lead zinger on every fourth zong”) and a routine as a sex-crazed Aussie bartender who, hilariously, meets his match in a smirking, gum-chewing real-life American alpha male from the audience. Even Riches's signature character  – Victor Legit, nemesis of DVD pirates and FACT officer, straight out of 70s Brit-grit cop shows – fails to raise the game, and the late introduction of a second actor/audience plant is jarring and unwieldy.

Riches is a skilled and likeable comedy actor, but all the charisma in the world won't make up for some rather underpowered writing, his show never quite getting its teeth into a subject with vast comedy potential. We hope it, and he, get better for next year.