FUNNYMAN Manford is on to a winner. Get your audience to write down things that annoy them the most and then read them out. Simple, but pure genius.

The material given to him by the sell-out crowd which packed York Barbican on Wednesday was comedy gold. There’s nothing stranger than folk, and Yorkshire folk at that.

His theme for the night was First World Problems, the sort of things which irritate us all, but we’d be too embarrassed to tell someone in the Third World who has bigger things to worry about.

They have sanitation and drought issues, we have predictive text (Manford comes out Mangoes), energy-saving lightbulbs which take an hour to come on, and going out for a night out on the town only to return to find you stripped the bed earlier. His audience’s answers were pure class, though. Well done,York. And Manford's delivery was spot on.

Thought-provoking annoyances included: Why do you get eight hot dogs in a tin when buns come in packs of six? Why do Scouts insist on packing your bags in supermarkets?

Why do some dog owners leave bags of poo on trees like Christmas decorations and why do men always leave the toilet lid up?

“You can always put it down,” Manford told the female contingent, and then went on to make a deal, saying us men would do that if women moved the driver’s seat back after they’d been in the car. Big cheers from the men.

Mancunian Manford is a very personable, likeable guy, who has a great rapport with his audience.

He’s only too happy to poke fun at his scally north-westerners, but can’t believe us Yorkshire folk have kebab meat in pitta bread and not in a naan – only across the Pennines, but poles apart. Manford’s act was a good two hours long, possibly more. He has no support act. He likes “to warm himself up”, and save the £60 a night fee.

He’s not one for one-liners or funny gags, but his observations on life are spot on, and unlike some comedians, he’s not offensive at all.

Even when two “overenthusiastic” women in the audience started heckling he was calm and polite. They were calmly removed by security. The Barbican crowd left with big smiles on their faces and the young woman behind me with a hoarse throat with all the laughing.

Me, well I had so much fun I almost... well, I can’t say the rest being a family newspaper and all, but those who were there will know what I mean.