Jimmy CarrThe Regent, IpswichARE you going along to see Jimmy Carr tonight? Whatever happens, don't be late, unless you want to be part of the show.

Dominic Castle

Jimmy Carr

The Regent, Ipswich

ARE you going along to see Jimmy Carr tonight? Whatever happens, don't be late, unless you want to be part of the show.

If you are tardy you will, before your backside has hit the Regent's comfortable cushions, be interrogated and generally held up for public amusement and ridicule. Last night's latecomers were teachers, of business studies and computers respectively, who no doubt wished that they'd left home five minutes earlier.

One of Carr's strengths is just this kind of interaction with his audience. He will engage in a conversation, drawing out his victims carefully and gently before delivering a verbal KO.

Last night's crowd were a little cagey, mostly too wary to be easily trapped by this sleek, smooth-suited former oil company marketing executive, but there were enough takers to keep him occupied.

He is not a storyteller; in addition to his bit of working with the house he does straightforward jokes, delivered in his essentially deadpan, pared-down style.

For the main part they'll raise a smile, a chuckle, a groan (what separates men from the animals? A fence) and every now and then a great belly laugh. If you fire enough bullets, you're bound to hit the target with some of them.

But the bullets that hit the target are what set him apart from more humdrum comics.

He has an ability to take you out on the edge to somewhere you know you shouldn't be, to make you laugh at things you know shouldn't, things you'd never be able to repeat in polite company and things certainly far too edgy to be repeated here. There are no taboos for Carr.

Repeat Offender is this tour's title; Joke Technician is the name of the next one. They're both right.