Stephen Carlin – Guilty Bystander

Most of us at some point like to romanticise the rebel who breaks through the shackles of society. Stephen Carlin is known primarily, according to the introductory Police and Thieves accompanied voice-over, as a 'snooker obsessed comedian'. And he'd rather be an outlaw.

Carlin possesses a nice line in questioning, and he manages to establish in the opening stages of the gig that, yes, girls do appear to prefer bad boys. This opens the way for an audience confession session, with members of the twenty-plus crowd surprisingly eager to share tales of stealing the Guardian and unspeakable acts concerning inhalers.

Never losing sight of his theme, Carlin accumulates good-will as he steadily builds upon family stories of watching Police, Camera, Action with more freakish riffs on perverts in jail and the sexual aspects of Victorian fiction. With an instinctive feel for the right moment to infuse the set with personal jabs at God and ex-drinkers, Carlin delivers a well-rounded set, even if he isn't arrested by the end of it.