Review: Reeves & Mortimer, Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham

This is the tour that nearly didn't happen. When the pair announced a new show, Poignant Moments, to celebrate their 25-year partnership, they could not have known how poignant it would be.

The tour was called off suddenly when a visit to the doctor by Bob led to emergency triple heart bypass surgery. The outcome was so uncertain he married his long-time partner by special dispensation before the op.

The duo's silver anniversary is alluded to in a three-minute reel of black and white video clips before they run on stage holding hands for a nostalgic two-hour revisiting of some of their best-loved TV characters and sketches, such as Novelty Island, Judge Nutmeg, the high-voiced Stotts and folk singers Mulligan and O'Hare.

Bob references his recent medical scare when he shoves back his cuff to check, not his watch, but his heart monitor and at intervals during the show he shouts out the readings. Yet despite his health hiccup, it was very much business as usual for the pair, including the physical, knockabout slapstick and their silly dance.

The now legendary Man With The Stick came on stage to howls of approval from a packed arena. The audience lapped up the catchphrases. 'You wouldn't let it lie' left the stadium on a high just before the break.

Filmed sketches shown on a giant screen gave them time for costume changes between routines. A variation on their Shooting Stars' Geordie Jeans sketch explained why people in the north-east have so many pockets in their denim leisurewear - one for scratch cards, one for scart leads, you get the gist.

There is a touching rapport between the two, deepened you suspect by recent events.

Despite repeating the same material night after night on tour, as opposed to a one-off TV performance, they still have the capacity to make each other genuinely laugh with a fluffed line from Bob or an adlib by Vic.

Their songs remain a highlight, and the tour features a round-up of their very best, including the gloriously daft Henry VIII Was Capable Of Flight.

From this Monty Python-style absurdity, they cut to Vic musing 'We'd come in and watch television and then about 10 o'clock we'd switch it on', which could have come out of the mouths of Morecambe and Wise, to whom they are so often compared.

You cannot put them into a category, except maybe the one marked 'comedy gold'.

By Marion Brennan