Review: Lucy Porter, Fools Gold ****

There are some people who still believe that as a woman it's impossible to be both attractive and tell a decent joke.

Should anyone ever wish to launch a formal challenge, they could do worse than drafting in Lucy Porter as star witness.

While she may have made her face known as a panellist on the likes of Mock the Week and Have I Got News for You and is a prolific writer for radio sketch shows, Porter is, first and foremost, a stand-up. She's been a regular on the circuit for 10 years now and the experience shows.

Her latest show, Fools Gold, premiered at last year's Edinburgh Festival and it remains an hour or so of effortless entertainment.

The inspiration came from finding a gold bracelet given to her by her gran, but the material meanders through teenage crushes, marriage, the

IRA, the beauty of alchemy and everything else in between.

It's all delivered in Porter's typical cheery style and, in the intimate surroundings of the Basement, it's impossible not feel somehow part of her gang.

Some have damned Porter with faint praise by describing her comedy

as harmless, but there's much more to the 4ft 11ins stand-up than a wide smile.

She's warm certainly, and everything, except perhaps a tale about Jimmy Savile, may be done in the best possible taste, but she's also clever, barbed, occasionally sweary, and one of the few stand-ups who you suspect doesn't cry into their pillow at night.