Cultural Dessert

On Sunday evening we were at The Stables in Wavendon to see the comedian Mark Steel. Last time he visited The Stables he was touring his 'Vive La Revolution' show examining the comic potential of the French Revolution (reviewed here in June 2006). This time we were treated to more straightforward stand-up encompassing the 2012 Olympics, the tyranny of supermarkets and (inevitably) MP's expenses. But there's always slightly more to Mark Steel than meets the eye as, for example, a series of funny but seemingly unconnected rants about the absence of humanity in call centres and shops turned out to have been a carefully constructed illustration of Karl Marx's theory of alienation. Steel is clever, likeable and extremely funny and, unlike many other contemporary comedians, his cultural references don't pass me by (when he launched into a parody of Radio 4's 'thought for the day' I knew we were on the same wavelength!). And you always get good value for money when you see him live - a lengthy and varied set.