David Brent and Foregone Conclusion, Eventim Apollo - comedy review: Ricky Gervais back in Office mode

Thirteen years after we first met David Brent in The Office he is finally living his rock dream. Strutting onstage at the packed Apollo in naff waistcoat, jeans and earring he felt that he looked the part. “Fashion, innit” he declared, before delivering an hour of frankly absurd rock-flavoured comedy backed by a proper four-piece band.

Between songs Brent, alias Ricky Gervais, revealed that he is currently in sales, doing a roaring trade in urinal lozenges. His lyrics reflected his work. Life on the Road (“don’t need no heavy load”) conjured up images of our hero hurtling down the M4, while Slough celebrated his hometown, which, he proudly boasted, is “equidistant between London and Reading”.

He is still as racially insensitive as ever. As he introduced rapper Dom Johnson (comedian Doc Brown) for the disturbingly catchy cod-reggae Equality Street he said “Chris Martin’s best mate is Jay-Z. I’ve got one too.” He then dug himself an even deeper hole with a dodgy skank and a chorus of wince-inducing biddly-biddly-bongs.

It was Lady Gypsy’s tale of Brent losing his virginity “by a lakeside south of Didcot” that prompted the most raucous laughs. An encore of Please Don’t Make Fun of the Disabled, a title worthy of Morrissey, was the apotheosis of this cocktail of the cosmically incorrect and the hilarious. A tough trick that Brent/Gervais pulled off with denim-clad panache.