Richard Herring's new one-hour show ploughs a safe path through material that brutally highlights the absurdity of growing old and the expectations that come with age.

Herring presents his own failings and inadequacies through a series of anecdotes, ranging from his new found love of youthful tight fitting t-shirts and the dangers of taking their 'humorous' motifs such as 'Give Me Head Till I'm Dead' literally! He also riffs on the absurdity of out of shape middle class men trying to prove their masculinity by fighting in public for the first time, not to mention the fact that talking dirty during sex can back-fire badly.

Of course Herring loves to step occasionally into more provocative territory and in one instance he deconstructs the English language by mocking the fact the extension 'phile' meaning ‘one that loves’ is ridiculously undermined when used in the term 'paedophile' even stating that the polar opposite of this i.e. 'to love' old women in this way is somehow worse?

Herring delights in making his audience wince and feel uncomfortable with his often grotesque and puerile humour, yet balances this with his cheeky and often charming nature. In fact he always keeps the audience on his side through his vulnerable sense of honesty and self-lampoonery.

At one point during the show Herring even bemoans the fact he never got that one big break, that one piece of work that was so good that he could live off it for the rest of his career (instead having to work hard for a living). He is still haunted by his much loved but still frustrating cult status, the word cult clearly irks him. The brilliant TV shows 'This Morning with Richard not Judy' and the seminal 'Fist of Fun' may both seem a long time ago now, but it's testimony to the theme of tonight's show that the man himself has not changed one bit since those shows first aired. Ok so as he points out the tight t-shirts and owning a skateboard are fooling no-one, but Herring's comedy still has the same edge and relevance today as it had back then, even if maybe his development in the great status wars (kids, marriage etc) has remained in stasis.

While Herring reveals the isolation and desperation attached to the fact he is 40, bereft of kids and a relationship, he also states his love for the boyish freedom and lack of responsibility his anti-status affords him; as he describes sleeping with a 23 year old girl in order so some frustrated married man doesn't have to as "taking one for the team."

The self-referential nature of the show is probably most tellingly an examination of Herring's own career, a shared explosion of paranoia, as he muses that his old tricks and tenacious boyish humour could fast become jaded and out of date. Yet through his self-depreciating and reflective humour Herring has found a catalyst to draw out the best elements of his past comedy, making his material seem fresher than ever.

Throughout the routine, Herring never manages to lose the audience although maybe he never whips them into the type of crescendo some people expect before they dish out the five star reviews. None the less 'Oh F*ck I'm 40' adeptly and often brilliantly continues the examination of Herring's own failings and mortality, a subject started in his last show, the acclaimed 'Ménage a Un.'

Rating: 4/5 Herring is reaching the peak of his stand-up career and there is only more come.

For more info about Richard Herring and tour dates for the show please visit here