Chris Martin: No, Not That One

Chris Martin is, as you probably guessed from the title of this show, not the lead singer of Coldplay. He is a comedian. A good-looking, charming, chatty, cool, comedian. And quite a lazy one.

Martin is playing to a full room tonight and has no problem keeping them laughing throughout the set. Which, in a way, is his problem. There's no real impetus for him to try harder, so he doesn't bother, safely sticking to his comfort zone. What we get is a set of rather bland observational stuff - aren't dishwashers hard to use, aren't mums a bit full-on, aren't your mates just sooo mental - safe, familiar material without any real attempt to break new ground. It's all done well and, again, the audience seem happy with it. But people were also happy with Viva La Vida.

It's a set that seems designed more to catch the eye of passing TV executives than comedy award judges. To be fair, it probably will go down well with telly people; it's exactly what they're looking for. But unless Martin gives himself a bit of a kick up the arse and starts pushing himself to see what he's really capable of, he's never going to be any more interesting than his musical namesake.