"Omid Djalili used to quip, "I'm the only Iranian comedian - in the world. Don't laugh, that's three more than Germany.
"Insert 'Sweden' and the gag still works... Till you have the pleasure of meeting Henrik Elmer.
"'Cause Sweden ain't just given us existential angst (Ingmar Bergman) and its polar opposite (Abba), it's also supplied us with a happy medium in the form of Henrik. And this is a very happy set indeed.
"There's a cool, collected calm to the guy - think Stephen Wright sharing a pint with Bob Monkhouse - and it adds a distinctive edge some pretty bizarre meanderings. He goes for the banal, sure, but he hits it mid-way, exposes its absurdity, then turns it on its head; then hits, as John Cleese would chirp, something completely different. If it all sounds chaotic it is, but there's a keen brain and a strong structure underlying the madness... In fact that's my only criticism: sometimes the show creaks under the order he's so desperate to impose thereon. Like, call-back lines are great, but even while you laugh you're a tad too aware they are, after all, standard weapons in a comedian's arsenal. And sometimes the mania of an Eddie Izzard is funnier than the tight construction of a David Baddiel.
"Still, that's a minor point. A niggle. Point is, Henrik's got it all - material, delivery, audience rapport - and it's time we got it too."
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