Alan Carr, Chorley Little Theatre, 2 March 2014

Chorley Little Theatre continued with its' remarkable ability to pull in big name comics for warm up shows with the booking of Alan Carr for a 'work in progress' show.  Any doubt about Carr's popularity can be dismissed with a look at the number of followers he has on Twitter - 3.4m at the last count - and Carr's own reference to the fact that he had downsized to play Chorley on a Sunday night: 'Two years ago it was the O2.'

But although this was a rehearsal rather than the real thing ('there'll be some shit bits,' Carr assured his audience) the only obvious signs of this were Alan having dressed down by wearing jeans and him briefly referring to his notes as to which gags to try out. Otherwise, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between this and a show where you had paid a lot more than £13 for a ticket.

Carr does a clever mix of Max Miller cheekiness and Kenneth Williams cum Frankie Howerd style 'oo-er missus' interaction with his audience, and in the intimate surroundings of Chorley he elicits comments and contributions from the front and back rows throughout the show. He deals with unwanted heckles - including trying to find a dogowner who walks their dog and isn't allergic to it in order to set up an anecdote about one of his Red Setters - deftly and in fine music hall tradition.

Carr's gossipy delivery is a clever mix of self deprecating gags and observational humour, such as being disciplined by his mother when a child and exacting his revenge on his father when Dad was driving the family down the M1. There are stories about settling down to domesticity with a new partner, going on holiday in a country where homosexuality is illegal and how comfortable a pair of Crocs are, the last of which items promoted a fiercely hostile reaction from his audience.

He finished an hour long set with a short Q & A, where he was able to knock on the head the suggestion that he was teetotal. Referring to his hit Channel 4 show Chatty Man he said: 'I have a drink with all my guests.'

Unsurprisingly, tickets for this gig sold out within minutes of going on sale and whether or not he ever comes back to the Little Theatre those who were there will be able to boast about it to their friends. The audience were laughing and shrieking from the first moment to the last as a master of his art gave Chorley a taste of a show that will fill venues much bigger than the Little Theatre.