Review: The Richard Blackwood Show at Huddersfield’s Lawrence Batley Theatre

In addition to RB, who was headlining the evening at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield, was a former bus driver and the man who played Dipsy in Teletubbies.

John Simmit (Dipsy) compèred the evening, and sought quickly to lance the elephant in the room: “When they offered me my own show, I thought ‘yeah, it’s about time – I’m a comedy gangster’,” he said. “then they told me it was for pre-school TV...”

Dane Baptiste was the only comic of the evening who came close to Blackwood – lucid yet deadpan, he takes a show to this year’s Edinburgh Festival and looks to be one to watch.

Crowd favourite Slim was the next on the bill – a fiery and confrontational performer, he had the skill to make simple jokes about not wanting to pay for his children to come on holiday with him, come to life .

But highlight of the evening was undoubtedly Blackwood.

Just a few minutes after he took to the stage, you were convinced he was as big a star as he ever was.

Looking rather muscular these days, RB spoke about topics as diverse as Yardy gangs and reality TV, exuding a stage presence that commanded respect.

It was easy to see why he was so popular in the first place.

The only downside was he didn’t finish with an impromptu rendition of 1, 2, 3, 4, Get With The Wicked.