JOHN Shuttleworth concludes the 2014 leg of his A Wee Ken To Remember tour tonight at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, but will be stocking up on car sweets anew in the New Year for more travels in Austin Ambassador Y reg.

A story has run elsewhere that Shuttleworth’s creator, Graham Fellows, feels his retro comedy character cannot go on forever, but as the age ofFellows and the retired Sheffield security guard turned organ-playing entertainer grow ever closer, plenty of mileage is left in the Ambassador, misbehaving Yamaha and Shuttleworth himself.

It used to be that banal but desperately funny linking passages between jovial John’s perky songs were the shining pearls of his live shows, but Fellows’ skills as a lyricist are now taking him into the territory of a more homespun Noel Coward or John Betjeman with darkness framing the edges of the new Unaccompanied Lady and in particular Mingling With Mourners.

John’s incompetent agent Ken Worthington may have the normally mild John feeling very temporarily bitter towards his neighbour, but his good nature will always rise to the surface.

Here is where Shuttleworth differs from Irish comedian the garrulous but grumpy Dylan Moran, who will return to Yorkshire next year with the full version of Off The Hook. Crib notes beside him, and recording each show, he experimented with new material for three nights last week in Pock Arts Centre’s smaller space, fitted out cabaret-style with tables.

Each night he switched the order, noted what worked, swigged from his wine glass, and reaffirmed his status as Ireland’s supreme comic since Dave Allen. He is lyrical, poetic yet fearlessly frank too on religion, politics, parenthood, middle-age spread, and irritating young men, whether spouting their mystical language in mobile phone shops or the coffee house attendant with the “Edwardian cricketers’ beard” lecturing him on beans.

If his hook is sharp now, it will be even sharper on the tour proper.

John Shuttleworth, A Wee Ken To Remember, Hull Truck Theatre; Dylan Moran, Off The Hook, Work In Progress, Pocklington Arts Centre