Jerry Sadowitz, Soho Theatre, London <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->

Comedy, when it is done well, is much like magic in that an audience thinks that a punchline, like a rabbit, has appeared out of nowhere. In recent years Jerry Sadowitz has put the two disciplines side by side in his shows and has thereby gone fromenfant terrible to more of an irate Tommy Cooper-with-teeth.

Of the two Sadowitz has intimated on numerous occasions that the magic makes him happier. It is not surprising that his constant stream of vitriol might weigh him down a little after 20 years of it, but the bile still rolls off the tongue easily and his unrelenting profanity still punctuates his act. Meanwhile, he frowns upon the idea that magic is any less edgy than stand up: "The reason why magic is not popular is because nobody likes to be fooled."

Tonight there's a glee and gusto to Sadowitz's fooling, almost a spring in his step as he juggles the two skills, manipulating foam balls and playing his deck of cards like an accordion while spilling his invective on targets from Graham Norton to Ken Livingstone.

Lurching between misanthrope and magician tempers the Sadowitz schtick. It's almost as if the faux "Now then boys and girls" bonhomie is rubbing off on Sadowitz as he performs his first love (magic) and his Mr Hyde side (comedy) seems to stumble and miss intended targets, such as his convoluted ramble on Soduku which I can't even begin to retrace here.

His explanation that he has multiple layers of irony and non-irony at least hints at a fine, dangerous line. There are times when the line is crossed- the idea that he should kill everyone in Newcastle so that he would eventually get rid of the annoying Geordie Big Brother narrator; and his pragmatism in the face of world hunger, offering the afflicted the choice of either moving from famine areas or using condoms, (a routine with echoes of the late US comic Sam Kinison).

The comic asides that come while he changes foam balls into items of fruit, or selects the right card using a battery operated hand, generally work: "If you do these tricks in Glasgow you always get some drunk wanting to shuffle the cards - and I was doing a trick with a rabbit at the time." However, when it comes to putting the balls and cards down the proceedings are uneven. Maybe it's because Sadowitz is without his hat, or maybe, perish the thought, it's because he is enjoying himself too much.

To 11 Feb (0870 429 6883)