Comedy has regularly drawn inspiration from phone-ins. Peter Cook amused himself by calling DJs pretending to be a lovelorn trawlerman called Sven.
Then last year Paul Whitehouse co-voiced Radio 4 spoof Down The Line. And around the same time comedian Alex Lowe created octogenarian Barry from Watford, the star of this warmly winning stage show.
Barry yearns for the days of real community, yet he reveals how he has found an alternative. He might not know the neighbours now but he can gossip on the doorsteps of thousands via the wonder of the wireless.
Lowe's precise performance as someone over twice his age is anything but phoned in. Heavy-jowelled prosthetics recall Roy Hattersley's Spitting Image puppet with better diction.
A cameo on tape from Catherine Tate, as Barry's long-suffering big-chinned beloved Margaret, completes the picture.
The result is not all laugh-out-loud funny, and the swing from comedy to pathos towards the end creaks slightly, but Barry's sepia-tinted worldview is thoroughly convincing.
It is no shock to hear that he really did pull the wool over the eyes - or rather ears - of some LBC listeners.
Until 17 March (020 7482 4857).
Let's Talk To Barry
