Mark Steel’s latest tour is rather clunkily-titled “An Evening and A Little Bit of a Morning With” but it turns out with a touching reason – it was suggested by his friend and comedy peer, the late Jeremy Hardy, during a moan about the tendency for his shows to go on a bit.

Steel only mentions it in passing – along with the great way Hardy made him laugh at the funeral of Linda Smith, another fellow comedian to be taken by cancer – but there’s a definite correlation between his pal’s death in 2019 and the content of the show. Not only does it cover many of the world’s woes since then, but the moaning old man content would definitely get the latter’s approval, although the manic exasperation of Steel’s delivery – best described as Hardy on speed – might have been a bit much for the weary cardy-wearing curmudgeon.

The hysterical delivery, which kicked in from the moment he took the stage, certainly delivered hysterics to the audience, and while the show felt a lot less structured than his last couple of tours, the scattergun approach still ticked all the boxes. As usual he threw in a number of local references – including a much-appreciated rant about Luton, in the wake of the Sky Blues’ heart-breaking defeat in the Championship playoff final – as well as brilliant put-downs and observations of everyone and everything from Boris and the Royal family to anti-vaxxers, disparaging use of ‘woke’ and ageism. He largely agrees with the latter – partly due to old people voting for Brexit – but admitted he could easily turn on the young, particularly when it came to audience member Joseph, who had the audacity to vacate his seat in the front row to pop out for a beer during the show.

Whether the youthful audience member recognised any of the musical hall numbers Steel performed at the keyboard during the interval is questionable, but there were plenty of laughs to be had as he continued tinkling the ivories after the lights went back down. Adopting the guise of a Working Men’s Club comic in full-on Cockney knees-up mode gave him the opportunity to throw in some seriously dodgy gags but also a Chas & Dave-style rendition of Radiohead’s Creep and note-perfect impression of Billy Bragg singing the theme to Bob the Builder in full-on socialist worker mode.

It all made for a genuinely terrific night, cheerily lapped up by a hugely appreciative crowd, none of whom minded Jeremy Hardy being proved right. Due to wrap up at 9.30pm, Steel finally left the stage 45 minutes later.

4 stars

Reviewed by Steve Adams at Warwick Arts Centre on Sunday 28 May. Mark birings his show to Telford Theatre, Oakengates, Shropshire, Friday 23 June