My general approach to blogging about comedy is not going to be one of critical assessment – reviewing anything is a simple exercise in subjectivity, but reviewing comedy is extremely so – that is one of the things about it that fascinates me the most; not only how comedians are bound to be both adored or reviled depending on who’s watching, but also how their material can soar one night, and the same routines die horribly the next.

I caught the first Jerry Sadowitz show in his current run at the Leicester Square Theatre. My only previous experience of JS was seeing him as a soft-spoken close-up magician on an old TV show (Stuff the White Rabbit). But I knew the man’s comedy reputation, so I was sure I wasn’t about to see anything ready for prime-time viewing.

The crowd seemed a bit harder than what’s normal for a weekday West End comedy crowd. My experience is that they tend to be genteel; a lot of stand-ups mock this type of London audience for their civility, and this tends to be taken with polite good humour, which only goes to prove the point.

OK, the Sadowitz crowd isn’t exactly frightening, but there is something raw, rougher around the edges than I’ve come to expect. The parade of people who need to shuffle past to get the centre of the row I’m sitting in are an irksome procession. One group choreographs their entry one-by-one, at five minute intervals for maximum irritation. As the mood quietly simmers between annoyance and anger, it turns out that this is a perfect warm-up for a frenetic 90-minute whirlwind of rage and card tricks.

As I said, I am very rarely going to use this space to ‘rate’ acts, since I think the experience is too personal, and can vary wildly for a multitude of reasons; and I am not going to repeat any of their material. But I do want to provide an idea of what happened, or what to expect.

In this case, I’ll just say that if you are thinking of seeing the man, you should be prepared for a furious set that includes as topics; pedophilia, rape, masturbation, racism – and has Madeleine McCann as a running gag. And magic tricks. Nothing is tabu, and nothing is ‘too soon’. This is an exploration of the ‘unsayable’, far stronger stuff than what is usually on offer. If you can’t take it, don’t go.

Sadowitz referred to this show being savaged in Chortle, in a review entitled ‘A tirade of racist, sexist, borderline-psychopathic bile’. ‘Borderline?!’ he asked.

On the night, I didn’t see anyone walk out – the few I saw stand up, came back with beer. An amazing evening.

By searching for your favorites, or adding people as they occasionally pop up talking to someone else, you can quickly personalize your ‘collection’.  And it is fascinating to watch exactly how sociable and closely-knit a group these comedians are. Do they all know each other?

Though not a household name, Gary Delaney (user name @GaryDelaney) is made for the medium, specializing in brilliant, tight one-line gags. He hones his material on Twitter and so is a constant live gig. When he isn’t polishing jokes, you can eavesdrop on banter with his girlfriend Sarah Millican (@SarahMillican75), who is arguably the top female comic in the country now.

Peter Serafinowicz (@serafinowicz) is another good place to start, prolific, surreal and capable of being consistently hilarious in small bites. Scottish Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) creates powerful stand-up from a remarkably colorful life, and ‘tweets’ in similar style; chatty, friendly and also brutally direct.

Dave Gorman (@Dave_Gorman) seems to be cycling around the country at the moment, but in the past he specialized in regular debates with ‘followers’ who he felt misunderstood or misinterpreted his ‘tweets’. This must make him the most approachable comedian on Twitter, though he can hardly maintain that level of dedication to clarifying random 140-character messages.

Oh, any and all of these people may offend, but if you’re that sensitive you probably lost your sense of humor ages ago. Janey, for example, regularly produces language that can stun the meek at distance. It’s all good.

There have been two chaotic and experimental Twitter-based comedy (#twitcom) gigs, organized by Tiernan Douieb, @TiernanDouieb in Twitter terms. These weird events, with sometimes fragmented routines, virtual heckling and unpredictable technical crashes, have been a showcase of all that is brilliant and demented about Twitter.

Only a natural host and genuinely congenial fellow like Tiernan would dare to do it once, and only an optimistic and deluded man like Tiernan would do it twice. Hopefully he will do it again soon. (And hopefully the transcript of Twitcom2 will be up soon.)

Mr Douieb is also the most dedicated blogger in the UK comedy community, and you can sample his work (Things To Say and Douieb) in the link to the right. He is a very funny and very friendly fellow – more on that in a later post.

Let’s take the ‘Comedy Resources’ first. Chortle is the most comprehensive site for things laughable in the UK, with news, gig lists, excellent reviews and a gigantic list of comedians, the latter is so useful I’ve given it its own link. Check here first to find out who’s on where in the UK, and who’s who, and why.

After you realize that the definitive comedy portal in the UK has been done, you will eventually think – Why isn’t anyone preserving the vast amount of excellent stand-up for posterity, and generating some comic economy from it? Well, the definitive answer to this hasn’t appeared, but a step in the right direction has. Go Faster Stripe is worth both regular visits and patronage. And competition. Too much good stuff is just not being captured and circulated.

London is funny is another fine guide to the comedy scene, and also keeps an eye on the Edinburgh Festival. Spoonfed is for those more varied moods, with a broader selection of what’s on. Of course Time Out is the essential London guide, but surely that goes without saying? I will gradually either be adding or mentioning more obscure ways to keep track of the amusement scene.

The last item is The Comedy Store, the club that could claim to have started it all. Definitely worth a visit – the site and the venue. Currently three nights (Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday) a week are devoted to improv-based evenings, and these sell-out very quickly, every single time. Definitely a must-see, to sample the range and professionalism of comics that do the Tuesday games, and the improv specialists on the other two nights. Habit-forming fun.

It’s about my favorite place in the great big world, and what I think is worth seeing and doing there. So it will be about amazing or amusing things happening there, and might be of interest to anyone thinking of passing through – but it will mostly be about laughing in London.

Because London has an uparalleled comedy scene. And also because I cannot think of any better way to spend one’s time or money than in the pursuit of laughter.