Tim Minchin: Live

Devilish musical comedy sensation Tim Minchin has a big few months coming up; he's doing an arena tour with full orchestra, plus November sees the opening of the RSC's adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda, for which he has provided music and lyrics. Get a taste of this London-based Australian in his cracking live show, which includes some seriously funny ditties on sex, death and being ginger - plus some dancing bears.

One of the few problems we've had is working out what to write about good comedies. If it's not funny, you can be scathing and compare it to the end of civilisation or Horne And Corden, whichever you consider to be worse. But if it is funny, you can't make jokes about it, and you certainly can't analyse why it makes people laugh. Jonathan Miller tried and failed, and we're not nearly as clever as him. Tim Minchin's manic stand-up act isn't great, but it is funny and his piano playing is impressive. We would like to say: 'If you don't like comedy songs, it's not for you'. But really no one likes comedy songs and it's better than that. See what we mean? Hard gig.

The Aussie music graduate turned comedy cabaret man is a favourite at the Edinburgh festival, thanks to comic songs built on careful wordplay and virtuosic grand piano. There's something uptight about Minchin as a performer that makes him hard to give in to completely, but it lets him straddle the lines between serious and funny, between soul and self-parody. Is he using his gifts just as a platform for gags about canvas shopping bags, terrorism and sex dolls, or does he want you to love him as a proper musician? It's both, and that's fine.

If you've still yet to encounter this jaw-droppingly funny piano-playing virtuoso, then catch him here. This live show from the wild-haired Australian includes everything from sex to death to dancing bears - and a terrific song about being ginger that you'll be humming for ages afterwards.