Chorley became a hot topic of internet chatter last week when a combination of Chris Addison asking for subject matter on Twitter and the appearance of a German U-Boat on the canal caused the town to become one of the day’s talking points.

The star of the BBC’s The Thick of It arrived in the middle of a nationwide stand-up tour and played in front of a 300 strong sell-out audience.

The first segment of his show demonstrated that Addison had indeed done his research on the town.

His observations about the Mormon Temple, Botany Bay and southerners’ perceptions of Lancastrians, “PIE on a sandwich??”, went down well.

His energetic pacing of the stage and windmill arm gestures helps give him a vibrant delivery style.

After the interval came the body of the show which centres on Addison’s own prejudices being cloaked behind a veneer of liberal tolerance.

His attacks on Ugg boot wearers and people who say “I tell it as I see it” were very funny and delivered with a reserved hostility which meant they never turned into a rant.

One of his charms is his acknowledgement of his overwhelming ‘middle-classness’ and the awareness that he conforms to the stereotypical Guardian reading Metropolitan ‘new man’.

Addison is a high profile figure these days and the theatre’s forward-thinking management deserve credit for bringing some of the UK’s best comic acts to Chorley.

Among similar high profile artists performing in coming months are Lee Nelson, Dan Antopolski and Richard Herring.

The theatre hasn’t looked better or attracted bigger names for decades and deserves to be supported as it was for this show.