American veteran wows London.

Bit of a treat last night for comedy anoraks as veteran American comic Stan Freberg performed in London's Comedy Store.

The man's 79 years old now, so any appearance is a rare one - let alone in the UK, which might explain why the audience contained a fair smattering of comics, including Paul Merton, Barry Cryer, Mark Thomas and stand-up Andre Vincent, who's such a fan he brought an old album for Freberg to sign.

For those not aware of him - which must be a large proportion of the population - his career started in the Forties, as a voiceover man, but he quickly made a name for himself as a radio comic, especially for parodying songs of the day.

At last night's gig he introduced some classic clips from the time, including Elderly Man River in which he rewrote the lyrics to Old Man River to fit political correctness - about four decades before the term was even used.

But he also performed some of his sketches and songs too, including a parody of a great English folk legend in the style of a famous Sixties police procedural; St George And The Dragonet.

The work held up remarkably well - even topical sketches holding up long after the people who inspired them have been forgotten.

As well as his own radio shows, Freberg made a number of pioneering adverts, and is often credited as being the first person to successfully introduce humour into television advertising.

Last night, as he told anecdotes from the time, he said he called his approach "more honesty than the client had in mind". The fact that simply playing an ancient advertisement garnered an enthusiastic round of applause at the spiritual home of alternative comedy must mean he was doing something right.

No wonder Freberg, still on form and with an impressive vocal range for someone his age, earned a standing ovation at the end.

Everything was taped for Radio 4, who are also bringing other American comedy legends to Britain for a short series, continuing with the Firesign Theatre Company in a fortnight.

The show will go out in December - watch this space for transmission details.