Michael McIntyre, Leicester Square Theatre

You had to be quick on the internet draw to get tickets for this chance to see arena filling Michael McIntyre in the intimate setting of the Leicester Square Theatre last night but for the lucky 400 who were, they were rewarded to an hour long mixture of well polished material and new routines.

McIntyre was more relaxed and less hyper than you normally see him and that suited the venue and the crowd just fine. If there are those that might doubt that McIntyre has chops to riff in a uber cool venue such as the Leicester Square Theatre they’d be left in no doubt as he expertly built a routine around finding out that the bloke who did his windows was in the audience.

The new material was often raw but you could also see how he is going to polish it all into the well crafted routines that he is well known for. And get this, it was a fiver, as McIntyre himself pointed out it was worth it just to spend all day saying I’m seeing Michael McIntyre and I only paid a fiver. It was worth so much more though and a real treat to see such a fine performer in less than usual circumstances.

The Leicester Square Theatre is a favourite with big stadium filling comedians honing their big arena acts such as McIntyre on a Monday night in December and in January Frank Skinner is doing a long run. It is also home to new and innovative acts as well as long time comedy stalwarts like Stewart Lee and from Wednesday iconoclast Jerry Sadowitz.