Imran Yusuf arrived under the radar on last year's fringe, performing a free show in preparation for a crack at the big time in 2011. But the big time wouldn't wait: Yusuf secured a best newcomer award nomination, a gig on Live at the Apollo – and will soon star in his own BBC3 sketch show. This year's offering leaves little doubt that Yusuf is cut out for mainstream success. He's sunny, slick and wears his heart on his well-tailored sleeve. But the jokes could be tighter, and the show could use a few deviations from its relentless mood of consensual jauntiness.
By his own admission, Yusuf is "naively optimistic" – a quality he urges us to share. Celebrate your shortcomings, he enjoins, citing his skinniness and timidity around women as examples. There's a touch of the motivational speaker about Yusuf: beyond the jokes, he seems really to believe this stuff. Likewise his protest against David Cameron's recent multiculturalism speech, which leads Yusuf to ask: "What is my value in British society?" The show is full of engaging material about this Kenyan-Indian-London comic's scrambled identity, including an account of his trip to Jerusalem, and an introduction to the Kokni Muslim ethnic group (of "My old man's a mullah..." fame).
It's all dispatched with an old pro's confidence, if not always writerly rigour. One gag about housebound Muslim mothers mystifyingly equates seclusion with ignorance of one's children's jobs. And Yusuf's claim that the Arab spring proves Muslims don't want religious dictatorship makes no sense. Such moments undermine his authority, and complicate the breezy good cheer. Perhaps naive optimism persuaded Yusuf these flimsy assertions would pass muster. If so – well, his career is doing fine without hard-headed realism, but his standup would profit from it.
