Simon Amstell in Bournemouth

TV presenter Simon Amstell was in Bournemouth last Friday as part of his stand-up tour. You get a different person on stage: wafery-thin, melancholic, squeaky, relaxed, absent-minded. I enjoyed his intellectual humour, and his ability to send things up.

The first joke in any performance should be local, putting things into context. Amstell just said, "Yellow buses", which was spot on for Bournemouth. He was very poised, at one stage he seemed to forget what he was saying, but all he did was take out an A4 sheet folded in four, open it up and get his place back.

What Amstell does best is be rude or crass about celebrities. He only did it a couple of times. About Kylie and her cancer. "Nobody would have cared if Dannii got cancer." He said he got to know the producer of Hollyoaks, and asked her why they didn't make it better. She said they tried making Hollyoaks better, but the ratings fell. So they went back to the way they were doing it before.

There were funny bits about Fairtrade, innocent smoothies, ethical shopping and a wry account of being caught up in the tsunami. Amstell has a super comic persona, his vacant, slightly depressive manner is very appealing. Not just a TV presenter.