MASTER technician Jimmy Carr made his annual return to Blackburn with his new show Gagging Order.

Carr is the ultimate professional, so at ease on stage as he rattles through joke after joke. Tim Vine is known for the number of gags in his shows but when he’s in full flow, Carr runs him close.

Of course, whereas Vine’s comedy is basically family-friendly, Carr’s is much darker.

On Saturday night he described himself as “an equal opportunities offender” which is about right.

No subject is out of bounds. Carr often strays into areas which land Frankie Boyle in the papers, but he does it in such a way that he more than gets away with it.

In the new show the topic of sex seems to play an even more prominent role, so be warned, if you’re going to see him when he returns in November.

Clearly the sell-out crowd at King George’s didn’t mind as he chucked out jokes like little hand grenades waiting to see what sort of reaction he would get.

For Carr regulars, this show features some more of the silly cartoons that are wickedly funny and the withering put downs to anyone daft enough to try and heckle. A new addition is the Jimmy Carr sitcom which involves members of the audience and which was probably the weakest part of the evening.

But overall, Carr’s bandwagon shows no signs of slowing down. He’ll make you laugh even though you know at times you probably shouldn’t.