As I creep slowly towards middle age, I have to confess, in recent years more and more Friday nights have been spent in front of the TV as opposed to painting the town red.

Consequently, on more than one occasion I’ve welcomed the weekend in chuckling away at Reginald D Hunter on one of the numerous panel shows – most notably Have I Got News For You – the American deftly, and frequently, plies his trade on.

So it was no great hardship to lift myself away from the sofa for once and instead see, in person, the stand-up from the Deep South at Watford Colosseum last Friday.

And worth leaving my living room for he was. Hunter (or Reg, as he liked to introduce himself to selected female members of the audience, complete with a cheeky raise of his eyebrow) told us about his upbringing, his homeland, and most humorously, his take on life in Britain and its people.

It would be easy to label Hunter as an observational comedian, but it might be more accurate to call him reflectional.

Certainly he likes to share his life experiences – good and bad – with his audience, and towards the end of the show his pain and bitterness became rather apparent.

But then again, Hunter has a knack of making friends of his audience: “Don’t be wrecking your bladder because of me”, he told any potential visitors to the toilet, who were well aware of the perils of leaving their seat while a comedian is in full swing.

And even when the lights were turned up for some audience-participation in the newly-refurbished auditorium – and Reg asked some (literally) probing questions – no-one was ever quite embarrassed enough not to serve up a reply. A mark of a man with a lot to say to people, and an endearing and engaging way of saying it.

Hywel Jones