Thoughtful Herring still a big fish

For many young comics, a couple of stand-up shows in Edinburgh is just a necessary stop-off on the path to a TV deal.

For Richard Herring, whose TV success with Stewart Lee fluttered by in the 1990s, it's clear from the off where his priorities lie: when he performed this show in Edinburgh last year, it marked his 21st show and 15th year at the festival - and this year, he's rumoured to be heading up north with a new hour again. Rest assured, the devotion is apparent.

So what's this 21st effort like? The clue is in the title: Mènage a Un is about linguistic subversion, 'loneliness, onlyness and onanism' and sex.

The latter themes feature heavily; in-between his desperate pleas to get laid (he's 39 and single, he declares) and ponderings on masturbatory pleasures, there's some nice, imaginative and near-the-knuckle material on how a mispronunciation of an olive-based spread can lead to 50 years trapped in a lifeless marriage, and the relative merits of dating Maxine Carr (think about it).

But it's his procrastination and wordplay that provide both the highs and lows of this cerebral set. On the one hand, committed blogger Herring can be a bit of a waffler. On the other, he delights in twisting his pay-off lines, one highlight involving hurling avenging innuendo at the staff of a car wash called the Hand Job Centre. And a setpiece involving two characters bothered by existentialism because their only point is to deliver a rubbish punchline is a fun and clever finale.

Fear not that he's fallen off the mainstream radar - this thoughtful Herring is still a big fish on stage.

Until Sat, Arts Theatre, 6-7 Great Newport Street WC2, Tue to Sat 9pm, £12.50. Tel: 0870 060 1742. Tube: Covent Garden

N2O Comedy Festival: Richard Herring: Oh F*ck, I'm 40!
Arts Theatre
Great Newport Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 7JB