Adam Kay – Fingering A Minor on the Piano

Consider him on a joke-by-joke basis and Adam Kay is a master craftsman. His anecdotes are told with economy and precision, while the song parodies for which he's best known surprise and never outstay their welcome. In Fingering A Minor on the Piano, however, these riches amount to a tonally and structurally disjointed whole.

A former obstetrician and gynaecologist, Kay has been out of the profession for so long that he's no longer allowed to practise medicine. Having had his licence revoked, he looks back on his old life over the course of this new show, reading out what he says are entries from a journal he once kept.

Several of these cover predictable subjects for comedy, patients with objects stuck up their anuses among them. Refreshingly though, Kay places emphasis upon incidents in which overworked and dedicated staff suffered due to bureaucracy and poor leadership.

The show builds toward an emotional conclusion in which the grave realities of working as a doctor are made plain, Kay finally rebuking former health secretary Jeremy Hunt in justifiably harsh terms. Effective as this payoff is, two shows have been uncomfortably welded together here, darkly humorous polemic sitting awkwardly beside irreverent musical comedy. The latter is very funny indeed, but finds Kay very much in his comfort zone, calling to mind a sleepwalker whenever he ventures toward his keyboard.