In stand-up circles, you are known as a deep thinker if you've ever read a book. And Dubliner Andrew Maxwell's new show is more considered than most.
Maxwell's set is a hymn to fun, and an attack on fear. He confronts media-spun panics: teenage pregnancy and the like. He visits America and confuses those who are terrified of socialism.
The show's thesis is pretty flimsy: Maxwell's best line, when he asks the audience: "Who here is more scared to get on a plane now we live in the war on terror?" contradicts his claim that we're all crippled by fear.
The serene control of his delivery, meanwhile, can make him sound smug. But at least laughs here are a means to an end. And, along the route of Maxwell's meander through the prejudices that inhibit us, there are some stops well worth making. I liked his distinction between left-wing comics (satirists) and their right-wing counterparts (jesters). And the line "who needs an empire when you've got a wicked exchange rate?" is more intelligent than any of Maxwell's more self-conscious philosophising.
· Until August 29. Box office: 08707 557705.
