Behind his intense, sometimes rambling analysis, Newman still has the sense of mischief of a natural comic. A mention of the rampantly predictable radio satire of his former Mary Whitehouse Experience colleagues Punt and Dennis is greeted with a gleeful giggle of disapproval and a mock-tactful 'Anyway...'. And he's careful not to let his bookish air entirely distract from the comedy smarts he's gained after almost two decades of gigging.
His agent unwisely booked Taliban into some rowdy comedy clubs, he says. 'But I pulled it off. A bit of skimping on some of the otherwise vital statistics of 18th-century wool exporting but not much...'
The novel went down well in the US, where it was hailed as a literary complement to Naomi Klein's No Logo. 'Who is this guy?' gasped an approving New York Times review. 'Very gratifying,' says Newman.
He was working on a nonfiction follow-up called War And Peace 2 but abandoned it to plough the material into this show. He is nothing if not committed to his task. Where fellow political comic Jeremy Hardy will butter up his audience with gags about the Next catalogue, Newman starts as he means to go on.
No chance of him selling out, then? 'Believe me, I sit down every morning and try to write some material about the Next catalogue,' he says. 'But I burst into tears, and go: "Oh well, Nasdaq it is".'
Apocalypso Now, Mon to May 21, Tricycle Theatre, 269 Kilburn High Road NW6, Mon to Sat 8pm, £7.50 to £15, £8 to £10 concs. Tel: 020 7328 1000. www.tricycle.co.uk Tube: Kilburn
