Lee Evans is what I'd call a 'Ronseal' comedian, writes Phil Barnett.

He does what it says on the tin. The former boxer subscribes to the old adage 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' and it hasn't been broken for a couple of decades now.

On Saturday night in Birmingham the jokes were new but the style and delivery were of the tried and tested formula. Evans is a proper British entertainer. Not all of his material is Saturday tea-time fodder, but neither does he rely on crudeness or shock tactics to get a laugh.

The Bristol-born entertainer is one of many comics who lists Brum as a favourite stop on any tour. Indeed, Evans was filming his new DVD over several shows at the NIA last week as if to prove the point. It was fitting, he pointed out, that he also wrote the material for the tour during a five-month stint in the Second City, which he cites as crucial in his development during the early part of his career.

In a venue of this size, some of his appeal is compromised. Watching such a 'visual' comedian, 95% of the audience probably had to spend most of the show watching his contorted but amusing facial expressions on the big screens rather than the man himself as they were so far away.

Nevertheless, they lapped it up. Audience participation was almost non-existant but the routine, lasting nearly three hours including an interval, was as slick as you'd expect from such a British institution. Evans, strangely, persists with his tactic of closing shows with a deliberately serious musical encore not designed to draw laughs.

It's a shame when such a funny performance ends with people sidling out of the venue. But that's Lee Evans. In entertainment, the mantra goes 'leave them wanting more' and despite the encore being a damp squib, he still managed to do that.