Charismatic, but not as effortlessly as Eddie Izzard, likeable, but not in that puppy-dog Alan Davies style, a little bit surreal and rambling, but not as deliberately, exaggeratedly so as Bill Bailey. And he hasn't tried to parlay his routines into a TV career (though he's regularly to be heard on Radio 4 and writes for the Guardian). His USP is his mixing of well-informed, intelligent social and political commentary into his routines.