We Germans, we like a laugh,” deadpans Henning Wehn, the self-styled German Comedy Ambassador. “We really do, just like the Brits. The only difference is we laugh when the work is done...not instead of.”

So begins a show by one of the most unusual characters on the British comedy circuit – a night of belly laughs, groans and awkward shifting in our seats.

A star of Live at the Apollo and myriad panel shows, Henning’s shtick is to hold a mirror up to his audience, forcing us to laugh at ourselves. He does this by describing his attempts to fit in, including learning the language as it is actually spoke, which meant dropping everything he was taught about correct grammar (“We are taught you say: ‘I was, you were, he was, they were... but here you say: “I was you was, he was, they was...).

Another uncomfortable moment came when he asked if there were any Germans in the room, and chatted endlessly in his native tongue, stopping only to point out that’s what we Brits do when we are in another country. Again, painfully true.

The banter is peppered with self-deprecating digs about the war and our enduring obsession with it such as his suprise to find, on arriving in England, that there was a documentary about Hitler on the television. "What a coincidence!" he a laughed, before realising it was less exceptional than he thought.

A highlight was when he made the crowd clap along to a German folk song, saying: “That was fun wasn’t it...but one thing I have to tell you is this song hasn’t been sung in public since the Hitler Youth. Did you see what happened? I said you just clap along and enjoy yourself and you all clapped along and enjoyed yourself. And that’s exactly the same mistake we made!”

Clearly bothered by a dry cough, Henning ploughed on. A short first half followed by a second half about Brexit, he admitted “has been described as overly long”.

It was. But it was also fascinating. His surprising message, given his background, was that it doesn’t really matter and we will all be alright. He also admitted that, as a German comedian laughing about being in England, he had no plans to return to Germany anyway, having no transferable skills!

That his well-argued message went down uncomfortably with the largely liberal, Remain-voting audience that would naturally come out and see a German comedian (evidenced by awkward silences in place of laughter and embrassed mumbling) made it all the more provocative and deliciously entertaining.

Danke Henning!