UK-based American Reginald D Hunter has always been ambivalent about doing television panel games but his manager must be delighted.
Three major London shows this week are proof that screentime might be bad for Hunter’s conscience but it is good for his popularity.
As he confessed candidly during his spellbindingly sharp set, "Stand-up comedy is art, TV is business."
His latest show is his most mainstream yet and all the better for it. Hunter has previously been accused of misogyny but this eloquent, intelligent performance was frontloaded with skilful, perceptive routines that would upset only the pathologically prudish.
Even discussing the nature of offensive words and evoking the outspoken spirit of Richard Pryor, his charm made it impossible to take umbrage.
Elsewhere he was playfully pithy dissecting television news, Tories and class. His talent really emerged, however, when he drew humour from a brutal description of being regularly punched in the mouth by his disciplinarian mother.
A sublime gig full of gasps between the giggles. Most strangely, we discovered that as a boy growing up in Georgia, Hunter loved Rumpole of the Bailey. Verdict? Guilty of comic genius.
Until Thursday.
Information: 0844 477 2000, reginalddhunter.co.uk
Reginald D Hunter
O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
Shepherd's Bush Green, W12 8TT
