An eye for the eccentric

There cannot be many comedians who have appeared in Fawlty Towers and interviewed Stephen Hawking. Ken Campbell tops a probable list of one.

He acted in John Cleese's sitcom and in his tantalising new monologue, The Meaning of Life, this alternative icon vividly recalls probing the boffin.

Despite the Pythonesque title of his show, Campbell is in his mad-professor element. This souped-up eccentric likes nothing more than synchronicity and he swiftly reveals a chillingly comic example.

On 9/11 he watched a Jackie Chan DVD and discovered Chan's ultimately shelved next project: playing a Twin Towers window cleaner who foils terrorists.

Campbell packs two hours of manic meandering with similar haunting, humorous juxtapositions. Time-travel theories jostle with an apparition of Olivier in a Stamford Hill church and the revelation that Anne of Green Gables is the most popular novel in Japan.

On an even more intriguing note, Campbell, whose bushy eyebrows deserve a gig in their own right, explores the legend of The Laughing Jesus: that a biblical Alistair McGowan took the rap so that the real Messiah could live on.

Occasionally the pace sags, but pithy lines, such as describing scientist David Deutsch as a "Muppet ferret", revitalise it. The repetitive conclusion doesn't quite realise the brilliant early promise, but this is an oasis of originality in a stand-up desert of predictability. As Campbell quips: "I'm not mad, I've just read different books."

Ken Campbell's Meaning Of Life