Marcus Brigstocke: Your time is up, Corn Exchange, Brighton

Once described by a fellow comic as having topical comedy "sewn up", the tousle-haired, bespectacled Marcus Brigstocke is no doubt a slick operator. His role as a current affairs humourist on BBC4's Late Edition propelled him to appearances on Have I Got News For You and latterly the dubious delight of mainstream ITV exposure on News Knight with Sir Trevor McDonald.

Brigstocke's routines tackle his bêtes noires head on: for example, 4x4 drivers and people who don't believe global warming is our fault ("read some books," he implores). His combative stance makes him as close as he can be to the street-wise American social commentators that have surely influenced him.

But for all the ire Brigstocke is still a liberal in a strop, and his previous penchant for wearing corduroy, however self-referential he was about it, has done little to help extricate him from this stereotype.

Sartorial leanings aside, Brigstocke's bleeding heart is in the right place and when the dressing-downs are over, there are some top quality gags in play. I particularly enjoyed his observation on the Daily Express repeatedly carrying a picture of Madeleine McCann: "I noticed that the photo changed slightly one week and I wondered if that meant they had her."

While he says that the Express might be "the worst newspaper in the world", the Daily Mail is the media scapegoat preferred by the comic fraternity and Brigstocke duly complies. He says that he knows when his mother is going to regurgitate something from the paper because she always starts her sentences "the thing that frightens me is..."

It seems that Brighton ("a place where homosexuals and retired Tories somehow get along") provides an audience where Brigstocke is preaching to the converted: "I am at home in godless Brighton," he says in a routine about the redundancy of religion. For the most part he's right, and the audience appreciate his efforts.

Admirably, Brigstocke's routine on religion involves him knocking it but trying to suggest an alternative. It's a bit of a humanist mess not for comic consumption, but at least it's an attempt to put forward some constructive arguments.

He may not have all the answers but he has the lines. Our ribs were tickled and perhaps our consciences pricked. No doubt if there were no further conversions to his causes, there were a few more converts to the cult of Brigstocke.

Click here for the Marcus Brigstocke website

Touring to 15 December