On Thursday Jimmy Carr will be appearing at The Royal Variety Performance. Carr is planning to do some respectable old material in front of Prince Charles, which is typically canny. Most of last night’s new show — especially a Princess Diana gag that went down a storm in Hackney — would probably not get a regal seal of approval.

Yet Carr is such a consummate craftsman that somehow his jokes about his girlfriend, disability and the homeless rarely offend. It is interesting to compare Carr with Frankie Boyle. As well as sharing the same manager, both share a fondness for bad taste. Unlike Boyle, Carr miraculously adds warmth to even the nastiest pay-offs.

Where this former Shell employee was once ramrod stiff, there is a relaxed slickness that varies the tone and keeps the laughs flowing as he strolls around the stage. Although Carr claims he resembles a “Down Syndrome Roger Federer”, he is actually a Bob Hope for the ironically politically incorrect age.

Frequent snappy comebacks show that he is no slouch at ad-libbing and with 300 jokes in two hours he certainly offers credit crunch value. Under closer scrutiny one might even spot family-friendly funnies. A suggestion that Welsh was invented by angry dads during Scrabble was particularly punchy. I cannot see Carr featuring in the New Year’s Honours list but maybe he will not wake up in the Tower on Friday morning either.
Hammersmith Apollo, 12-14 Dec (0844 844 4748, www.jimmycarr.com).