It’s odd to find an act as brittle and uncompromising as Gavin Webster fall between two stools, but that’s exactly where he’s landed in You Cannot Say Nowt These Days. Trapped between an irritation at aggressive language policing from left-wing liberals and a revulsion towards right-wing extremism, he conjures up a show that complains about both sides of that divide without ever moving beyond shopworn cliché.

The premise here is that Webster’s new hour has been funded by a local council initiative bringing a handful of acts to the Fringe. His material is therefore under constant scrutiny from a number of one-dimensional bureaucrats who interrupt his punchlines to complain about particular words he’s used or seemingly offensive ideas. While not a bad conceit, it frustrates rather than compliments the flow of the hour and, what’s worse, those constant interruptions have little more to say than ‘aren’t the easily offended a bit annoying?’, hamstringing even Webster’s best jokes.

Of course, the get-out clause towards the end is that his culture-war baiting premise was simply a device to hang a few comic ideas on, and that’s where the problem lies. The idea that the rules of offence are governed by a metropolitan middle-class isn’t invalid, but it also deserves a more developed perspective than you’ll find here. 

Gavin Webster: You Cannot Say Nowt These Days, The Stand 2, until 27 August, 5.20pm.