Apparently we were at the Dome Concert Hall for a funeral - I hope mine is as funny.

The wake in question was for Boogie Woogie Beach Bum Bar, Aussie Mark Little's regular Thursday night showcase for Brighton and Hove's eccentric talent.

Regular, that was, until one night in June when performance painter and poet Curtis Tappenden came in for a mauling from the hecklers.

Little went off on one, letters of complaint were written and before you could say "Get down, Bouncer," the former Neighbours star claims he was unceremonially dumped by his venue, Komedia.

Fast forward four months and Little resurrected the fateful event - which he has since described as the worst night of his 20-year career - complete with Curtis, the "controversial watercolourist".

You might expect the artist formerly known as Joe Mangel to be bitter but you would be wrong. In fact, he was positively seething about his experience.

Not that he was any less caustic about the Paramount Comedy Festival which provided him with the gig, albeit with an audience of 300-odd in the 1,600-capacity Dome.

Waving a copy of the promo poster, featuring headliners Johnny Vegas, Jo Brand and Bill Bailey, he came to the somehow logical conclusion that he was not on it because he isn't fat enough.

Just for good measure, Little - sporting a beard, white suit and loud orange shirt and somehow looking like a drug-dealing son of Peter Ustinov - turned the festival's giant promotional cube upside-down and almost succeeded in covering it with a dust sheet.

There was nothing sad about the swansong, though.

Little tore into his targets with glee and just a hint of self-mockery - the audience was given complaint forms at the start of the show, the contents of which formed the bulk of the improvised second half.

He was also passionate about bigger things than disputes over gigs.

Following the Iraqi tradition of bashing pictures of enemies with a shoe, Little put Tony Blair on the receiving end of more leather than an England wicket.

It was a classy performance. Beach Bum Bar is dead. Long live Mark Little.

Review by Nigel Davies-Patrick, features@theargus.co.uk