Harry Hill - Southampton Guildhall

THE man with the biggest collar in entertainment also possesses one of the biggest talents. Harry Hill is unique in modern comedy, being both highly original and extremely funny.

Whereas many comedians stick to the sex and Scalectrix formula with boring rigidity, Hill treads a barking mad path all of his own.

I've seen other supposedly zany, off-the-wall acts that have hardly raised more than a polite titter. That's because wacky is generally just another word for desperate. In Hill's case, the odd but charming personality goes hand in hand with an unstoppable flow of imaginative ideas.

I can't begin to describe this show, except to say that it was one of the funniest things I've seen in years, and utterly inspired. There was no theme or anything like that, but everything did link up in its own, strange way.

Every joke and routine is meticulously thought through, and Hill's performance is so committed you come away thinking that, actually, somebody holding up a village post office with a jellyfish isn't beyond the bounds of possibility. Mad, but brilliant.