Yesterday was unusually busy for Jimmy Carr. He watched the ATP World Tour Final at the O2 Arena in the afternoon — despite his lookalike Roger Federer not appearing — and then he hurried off to work in Brixton. For Carr stand-up comedy is just a job, but one he does very well, though not without controversy.

“It’s only words,” was a defensive shot the smart-suited 37-year-old used a number of times onstage during his sold-out gig. Understandably, perhaps, following the gagging order from the taste police this month when he became headline news for his one-liner about amputee soldiers doing well in the 2012 Paralympics.

Unsurprisingly, the aforementioned joke was not delivered last night. But the excitable audience need not have worried if they wanted offensive comedy. There were plenty of well-spoken jibes about ginger hair, gay men and light-fingered Liverpudlians. Oh, and a couple of kitten jokes that threatened to send the RSPCA into a tailspin. By his own admission, Carr is an equal-opportunities offender. Quips with everything.
Except that no one was truly offended, however many X-rated aces he served. There was maybe too much about sex, as he relentlessly returned to the subject from similar angles throughout his set, yet whenever there was a danger of getting stuck in a rut he would lob in a well-crafted winner.

It takes a certain skill to sound simultaneously unpleasant and witty, but he even managed that, remarking of one large woman: “She wasn’t a size zero, she was a shape zero.” He was on firmer footing putting the boot into celebrity culture.

Michael Jackson, Jordan and Madonna all received laser-guided tongue-lashings, while a remark about the Queen’s love life was crude but hardly treasonable. Carr’s style is rarely gentle, though there were occasional lighter moments. I warmed to his suggestion that one can cure a fear of spiders by imagining them naked and wanted more of the same.

This brand of anti-Michael McIntyre, guilty-pleasure, playground humour is clearly not to everyone’s taste. His dopplegänger Federer might have lost this weekend, but for Carr it was game, set and match. To borrow some more sporting parlance, however, it is just a shame he cannot win pretty rather than win ugly.

Also Hammersmith Apollo, 11 to 13 and 21, 22 December. Information: 08448 444 748, www.ticketmaster.co.uk