The proposition sounds about as agreeable as a vegetable korma with George Galloway and Alf Garnett - writhing direct action in an effort to thwart the various evil machinations of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.

But this show, as with any Mark Thomas product, is a class act. Thomas, who should be back on TV not confined to Radio 4, works up a storm as he sticks two and a half thousand fingers up against the tear-inducing absurdity of the law and politicians’ attempts to ban protests in Parliament Square. This man organises displays that would make any member of Aslef green with envy.

An all too understandable fear with political comedy is that the jokes may fall flat on the ears of either the disinterested masses or the passionate, but endlessly humourless, radical left. The genius of Serious Organised Criminal, like the performer’s other shows, is that it turns doubting Thomases against the notion that political comedy must be niche, neglected or straight-faced serious.

Inciting protests in honour of issues so laudable as equal pay for nose pickers and action against chives in cheese, Thomas exposes and turns the spotlight on modern day political intrusions on civil rights.

All the time he does so with the reluctant assistance of the maddening form filling logic of the long arm of the law. Becoming the Guinness world record holder for political demonstrations, Thomas engages in mental jujitsu with the honest coppers of Charing Cross police station and somehow always stops short of stepping over the thin blue line.

In this DVD, the self confessed Noel Coward of protests mixes the trivial and surreal with timeless good humour and turns what could have been a political sourfest into stomach clenching laughter. This show is not politics-lite, but comedy with purpose.

Release Date: Out Now

Will Henley

Watch Mark Thomas in Action: