Making much play of his ability to “go off on one” in front of his kids, particularly when shopping for kids shoes in Brent Cross Shopping Centre, Ian Stone perpetuates the myth of his deeply angry personality. In reality, far from being able to provoke a fight in an empty room, he’d be whipping it up into a frenzy of laughter.

Which is not to deny the viciousness of Stone’s comedy tawse. It twists middle class Jewish angst up with parental nightmares and, for that extra bite, is knotted with political and religious observation. His technique is cutting and as the subjects of his interrogation - Israel, the West’s Middle Eastern policy, fundamentalists and the Roman Catholic church - give up the lifeblood of comedy, the results are very funny indeed.

Stone’s skill is in his equation of the mundane with the morally reprehensible, casting Saddam Hussein as the Sven Goran Eriksson of Middle Eastern politics for example. The results work on many levels and, with his ability for self-deprecation and a free-flowing delivery, ensure that the audience is kept on side, whatever their level of inebriation. It is not, however, suitable material to display in front of the kids.