Andy Zaltzman Swears to Tell the Truth, Half the Truth, and Everything But the Truth

Is there an Andy Zaltzman Appreciation Society? There should be, for the man who co-wrote and starred in the BBC Radio 4 comedy sketch show "Political Animal" is a satiremeister, or would be if there were such a creature. And in his colourful world, there probably is.

Looking and sounding more than ever like a mad professor of comedy, Zaltzman puts the S into surreal, the V into vivacious and the sword into Silvio Berlusconi - "a man who has been involved in more scandals than a dyslexic shoe-shop owner".

Scarcely pausing for breath in a pulsating 70-minute show, that embraces everything from childbirth and world politics to philosophical musings on the truth, Zaltzman even tries to convince his audience that they should factor in an extra 5 per cent of laughs for his jokes in view of a cold he has been nursing since the start of the festival.

He fears neither the British National Party - "the only party in Britain named after what would happen if they were to disband - nor God, whose existence he pooh-poohs.