He is the hottest comic property in Britain, but with the future of his splendid sitcom The Office in doubt, what will Ricky Gervais do next? This live solo show, Animals, proves him to be a proficient, if not inspired, stand-up. The precise comic touch of his David Brent transmutes here into something broader and more familiar: a blokey, lite-surrealist take on the animal kingdom, specifically the bits David Attenborough left out.
Part of Gervais's fascination is how closely he sometimes resembles Brent. He flaunts his gut and says: "I know what you're thinking: all that boxing training paid off." It is exactly Brent's combination of smugness and ingratiating self-deprecation. Gervais is clearly revelling in his mainstream celebrity, and perhaps that's where he'll find his level. He asks his audience if they know who Pol Pot is, but he takes our acquaintance with Rick Waller for granted.
In Animals, Gervais has struck a fruitful comic seam. His online research has yielded several "facts about wildlife": Montana mountain goats will sometimes butt their heads so hard their hooves fall off, from which Gervais devises, Eddie Izzard-style, comically banal anthropomorphic dramas.
Whether enacting the Fall from Eden or an elephant swimming, Gervais's humour stems from the incongruence of extraordinary scenes and everyday dialogue. Thus, when he meets a mermaid, the two exchange small talk about Ricky's recent Bafta success.
Like Brent, there's something of the lad about Gervais, who can't resist a knob gag. Sometimes his strenuous tastelessness gets tiresome: he's not the first stand-up to joke about Stephen Hawking as if this were the last word in comic derring-do. But sometimes, the cheapest laughs are the loudest: witness Gervais's slide-show on animal homosexuality.
Gervais's comic timing, such a feature of The Office, is impressive throughout. But, whereas scrupulous low-key naturalism is the perfect pitch for his TV work, Gervais live needs more dynamic energy. And, while the success of The Office lies in the bittersweet truths it reveals about the lives we settle for, Animals feels glib and insubstantial. It is quite funny, but we know Gervais can be much more than that.
· Until January 18. Box office: 0870 900 4555
