Paul Sinha @ The Stand

Who on earth would consider the eloquent, intelligent ex-GP Paul Sinha vitriolic? The answer turns out to be the BNP – its deputy leader accused him of 'extreme anti-white vitriol' in a radio debate last year. This inspired tonight’s show, in which Sinha puts broken, bigoted Britain on a table and asks it to cough. What he finds is a country that's increasingly retrograde in its attitudes to race and sexuality.

This is one of the best-written shows in Edinburgh right now. It's constructed like an essay and each hilarious anecdote, from the argument with the BNP to the time he accidentally promoted the gay agenda on Soccer A.M., is constructed to support his overall thesis. He ends on a hopeful note, with an unexpected ending to a racist encounter at a train station, giving the audience something to really think about when the laughter has died down.

Mixing politics with comedy is hard. There always tends to be too much of one and not enough of the other. Sinha has found an almost perfect balance of the two. He is hugely entertaining and very funny, yet you wouldn't mind if he was elected Prime Minister in 2015.