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.

Alistair McGowan, Chorley Little Theatre, 21 September 2013

Alistair McGowan is probably the most famous impressionist in the UK, so for him to be playing Chorley Little Theatre was some coup.  And, he acknowledged, he wasn't expecting it to be quite so 'little'.  Small it may be, but it was packed out with a largely middle aged audience for his 'Not Just A Pretty Voice' tour.

His hour and three quarter act centres upon a run through the wide repertoire of famous and not so famous voices that he mimics, providing a smorgasbord of characters from TV and the world of celebrity from panel shows to Dad's Army.

As a former voice of Spitting Image McGowan has had many years' experience of mastering some voices, but what was particularly interesting was just how varied a range of people he chooses to imitate.  Whether it's up and coming comics who have appeared on Dave a few times (some of which references were admittedly lost on me) or Sky Sports' Jeff Stelling, McGowan is clearly a keen student of the media.

And McGowan is clearly a clever man, as his impression of Roger Federer giving a post match interview in three languages demonstrates.

Despite his obvious talent, however, the strongest material was the more personal storytelling such as his tale explaining what passed for in car entertainment when he was a child going on holiday with his family.  I would have preferred more of this to the Diane Abbott or Andrew Neill impressions and a pretty laboured Michael Portillo gag.

More up to date political satire would also have added spice, but the fact that no Cameron or Clegg impressions feature in McGowan's act speaks volumes about their lack of presence and their indistinguishability as politicians. Instead William Hague, whose thick Yorkshire brogue is clearly a godsend to an impressionist, and Ed Miliband were neatly parodied.

McGowan's best imitations were of comedians Frank Skinner, John Bishop, Alan Carr and Dara O'Briain.  With their mannerisms also neatly captured, it was possible to believe that they and not McGowan were strutting the boards of Chorley Little Theatre.

So a great night's entertainment in the company of almost 50 household names, and all for the price of a curry and a pint.