Keeping the faith

Pat Condell used to be a regular sight in London's clubs from the 1980s to the mid-1990s. Then he disappeared off the live scene. This show, subtitled A Few Jokes About Religion Before It Kills Us All, heralds his return and in it Condell lambasts the double standards, brutality and ignorance he believes are in Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Condell, who comes from a Catholic family, is all fighting talk. 'I don't respect your beliefs and I don't care if you're offended,' he declares on his website, marking out the territory for this hour and 15 minutes. In it, clever oneliners, wordplay and epithets ('you don't need proof if you've got belief,' he mocks) come thick and fast.

But Condell's delivery is also his downfall; his mild manner and the fact that his spiel is over-rehearsed and speech-like makes this show feel like it's dress-down day in the local university's sociology department. The end result raises wry smiles rather than guilty belly laughs. Still, go to one of these sporadic dates: at a time when censorship is a bugbear for comics (Stewart Lee's controversial Jerry Springer The Opera is namechecked here) and recent headlines warn of creationism creeping into British schools, intelligent efforts such as Condell's are welcome food for thought.

Mon, Feb 26, Mar 20 to 25, Etcetera Theatre, The Oxford Arms, 265 Camden High Street NW1, 7.30pm, £8. Tel: 020 7482 4857. www.etceteratheatre.com Tube: Camden Town

Pat Condell: Faith, Hope & Sanity
Etcetera Theatre
Camden High Street, NW1 7BU