Ricky Gervais: Science

Love him of loathe him, comedy's Marmite man Ricky Gervais continues his latest stand-up tour with a six-day residency at the Hammersmith Apollo. After Animals, Politics and Fame comes Science, a show which was largely panned when it made its debut at the Edinburgh Festival last summer. "Serves up unwanted additives and a large dose of apathy," harrumphed The Telegraph, while The Observer groaned: "Too often you get the sense that he [Gervais] has gone for the easy option of saying the unsayable just to provoke". The negative reviews, it goes without saying, didn't have an affect on Gervais' box office pull: the UK tour was completely sold out, hence the decision to prolong it into 2010. The Reading-born joker may have fallen rather flat in the US with his recent film turkeys, Ghost Town and The Invention of Lying, and his wobbly showing at the Golden Globes, but there's still enough of The Office's David Brent and Extras's Andy Millman to keep the laughs coming for die-hard fans. Science may tread on deliberately offensive ground - paedophilia, rape and homosexuality for instance - but there's a good sketch on Noah's Ark, the Frankenstein's castle laboratory stage set is impressive and, thankfully, Gervais has had time to hone the show after months on the road.