Rich Hall, Centre Stage, Westbourne

THERE is a certain humble quality to Rich Hall. Here is a fifty-something aspired-to comedian who has been doing the circuit for years, appeared on several Letterman shows and can claim credit for being the inspiration behind the famous Simpsons barkeep, Moe Szyslak.

It's likely that if it were in his interest, he could bag some kind of TV chat show and hold back a bit on the gruelling tours. Yet tonight, keeping this room in Westbourne happy is the only thing he seems to care about.

Hall prefers this side of the Atlantic, and for all our foibles (many of which he is willing to point out), he has a rapport with Brits, which he struggles to find with fellow Americans. There are the obvious Bush remarks, and the odd swipe at the likes of Bill Gates ("Do you think his company name is telling us more about him than he wanted?").

But chiefly, Hall is intrigued with people like us, and it is when he targets front-rowers, and tells stories about these people he's just met that you realise the scope of his comedic mastery. It's both childish and arrestingly intelligent, and that ain't half bad.