As one quarter of stadium-filling 90s comedy stable The Mary Whitehouse Experience, Robert Newman pretty much cornered the market in blokey observational comedy.

More than two decades since that TV show aired, his newer material is a lot more sophisticated.

With Darwin and Dawkins as starting points, Newman presented his own ideas about evolution.

Looking at the development of animal sounds, political gains from promoting “survival of the fittest” and nature’s inversion of “traditional” gender roles, this only vaguely scientific talk was entertainingly interspersed with genuinely fascinating facts, veering from London cabbies’ brain structures through to the theory that some animals can literally eat memories.

Mercilessly and brilliantly ripping Dawkins apart on the way, Newman’s stance depicted mankind as more altruistic than fashionable popular assumption would suggest.

With convincing examples, this was an intriguing stab at making complex biology palatable, helped by a healthy dose of charisma, History Today-style asides and, of course, Ronnie Corbett impressions.

Some of Newman’s post-Whitehouse, pre-present day shows have made the common mistake of almost forgetting to insert the comedy in political comedy. With just the right balance of intelligently packaged science and hilarious anecdotal silliness, this was the work of a performer at his peak.