Russell Brand, the current Marmite of stand-up comedy (you either love him, or hate him) started his six night stint on Channel 4 yesterday with humourous ponderings on childhood and adolescence. The show’s format is essentially stand-up comedy with a few media props, as Brand liberally peppered his witterings with old commercials and dated TV to help break up his routine, beef up his arguments and enable us at home to experience his feelings of nostalgia.

We’ve all had conversations based on a saunter down memory lane, filled with memories of cult children’s television or adverts we used to sing along with when young, and so the source of Brand’s comedy was an easy home-run. Who doesn’t enjoy thinking back to when they were all innocence and scared of horrors as serious as quick sand? With his subject material guaranteed to please, Brand’s use of video clips neatly broke up the routine, so it didn’t feel overlong or stretched. But, with five more nights of the same to follow, is it worth tuning in for?

For me, as a fan of Brand, his love of language and quirky comedy is enough of a hook to have me wanting more, but that is not to say there is no room for improvement. The set looked overly elaborate and distracting for what is a backdrop and Brand’s telephone conversation with his dad to discuss the colour of his willy seemed uncomfortable and stilted. With such a safe subject, sometimes the jokes were obvious and uninspired and we can hope for more from less romanticised topics, while as he set up the various video clips, he sometimes appeared to be stalling for time, repeating himself and losing himself on tangents.

The material itself was funny, and predictably lyrical, juvenile, smutty and sophisticated all at once. But to keep the fun factor and prevent seeming stale – it needs to move at a slightly quicker pace and be a bit more experimental. The opportunity to tackle meatier issues comes tonight with technology and science under Brand’s oddball scrutiny. Let’s hope the jokes keep coming…