Yeah, I know!!!

Last night, for the second time in a year I went to see Little Britain at the Liverpool Empire on one of the last dates of a seemingly never-ending tour.

I was quite ambivalent about watching it again. I think the show is quite funny, but I must admit I was becoming a little tired of the characters last year when I went to see it. This was evidenced with the last series, when some of the old favourites had seemingly ran their course.

A year on from my first visit and after a period of not watching the show I went to see the live show again. The main reason I went was to take my girlfriend Nicky who had never seen the show - the tickets were part of a birthday present she had been waiting to receive since June.

The show is virtually the same one that they have been touring for a year, but there is the addition of one or two moments of spontaneity to the mix – to freshen-up the heavily scripted show.

I managed to make it in on time for this performance – last year I missed the first twenty minutes last time - due to a mix-up with my tickets. That probably was one of the reasons for my less than glowing appraisal of the show last year.

The old favourite characters are all rolled out - Bubbles, Lou and Andy, Marjaorie Dawes and are well received by an audience expectant to see such characters.

The highlight of the show for me was the cameo appearance of one of the non-entities from the boy band Eton Road.
Before the show, to the right of where we were sat, there was a slight frisson in the air and the sporadic flash of a mobile camera. It suddenly become apparent that the X-Factor 'stars' Eton Road were in the audience.

One of the sketches involved Des Kaye, played by Walliams, who is seemingly a disgraced children’s television presenter, who is now plying his trade doing summer season at a summer camp.

The sketch involved getting two members of the audience to help him ‘hide the sausage’. One is an older person who Kaye/Walliams ignores and the other is a boyish individual - whom is basically molested in front of the audience.

Unfortunately for Eton Road, David – I think that was his name (my appreciation for boybands is on par with my appreciation of gnawing my own limbs off) was brought on stage and subjected to this humiliation.

After escaping without having his pants removed, Walliams then proceeded to chase David around the auditorium before announcing, 'I didn’t like you I preferred the black haired one instead' – cue all four member of Eton Road running for their lives through the rows and aisles of the Empire.

The sketch dissolved into farce with Walliams’ wig falling off and with the assorted members of Eton Road subjected to untold humiliation. It was funny and embarrassing in equal measure.

You have to give credit to Walliams and Lucas for the energy and the quick fire nature of the set changes. The characters who I'd grown a little tired of I did enjoy, but hopefully they can be consigned to history. The two transvestites are the main offenders for me. It has been an unbelieveably long tour for them and it will be interesting to see what there next project will be.

It was a good night and in the end I was glad I went - despite my earlier apprehension.