The biggest compliment you can pay a comic is that by the end of their set, you hurt – your face, your sides, your gut – after Canadian-comedian Glenn Wool had finished taking us through some of his greatest hits, or Wool’s Gold, at Bristol’s Wardrobe Theatre on Sunday night, I was considering taking the next day off work with severe face ache, and possibly ruptured sides.

Half of Wool’s magic lies in his perfect comic-timing and delivery; a combination of stoner drawl and fire-brand Southern preacher which snaps back and forth at almost a drop of a hat.

The other is in his ability to take a joke and then push it to the darkest place he possibly can.

The intimate show opened with a member of the audience moving to an empty row of seats by the side of the stage which then led to Wool holding a snap ‘referendum’ on whether he should move back to his original seat.

He then launched into a skit about how Britain is the Isle of Wight of Europe – It would probably be for the best if we stopped the ferries and let it drift off, and, as someone who grew up on that retirement home with a moat, I couldn’t agree more.

Other highlights included Wool talking about his love of swans, editing history so his 27-year-old girlfriend believed Axl Rose died after Appetite For Destruction was released, as well as the joys of getting a divorce and the misery of the last year of the relationship proceeding it, as he explained: “I moved to England to marry the perfect women, I divorced the worst.”

Wool was at his best though when spinning a great yarn, and regaled the audience with the time he was invited to present a Kerrang! award and managed to offend a room full of heavy metal bands and goths with a juvenile joke about former Lost Prophets frontman Ian Watkins.

“Have you ever offended a goth?” He said. “They look like a vampire being hit with sunlight.”

Finishing out the show with a plea for common sense, and for people to engage in some basic humanity, Glenn closed by praising the British’s ability to crack a joke even during a crisis,

Wool said:“ I don’t need to worry, I’m moving back to Canada untill you fix the country, but you guys need to keep drinking, cracking jokes, and laughing because in two weeks you’re really going to need it”.

He may have a point.