AMID all the names brought to York by the Great Yorkshire Fringe, it is easy to miss the fact that lots of home-grown talents are making inroads into the festival.

One such performer is Sir Dickie Benson, three-time Academy Award winner, two time nominee and two-time Greco Roman Wrestling champion, currently residing in York.

I had the pleasure of catching his show in the Shed, on St Sampson’s Square, on Thursday.

I have seen this Sir Dickie character - he is the bewigged invention of Peet Torjussen, who grew up in York and still lives here, I believe - several times before, but every time I do, he manages to shock and surprise me at the speed at which his mind works, coming up with hilarious responses and reactions to the events unfolding.

On this occasion, Sir Dickie greeted us on the way in with a glass of bubbly and a request that we come up with questions for him to be asked later. A nearly full Shed looked a little baffled, many of the audience being unprepared for what was about to happen.

Sir Dickie is a comedic force of nature, a whirlwind of unpredictable and uncomfortable energy. Making his entrance through the audience, he stroked faces, landed kisses on heads and offered to buy at least one man’s wife before plonking himself down on one audience member’s knee, and stroking his beard.

What followed was nearly an hour of chaos, laughs and drunken tantrums from a legendary Hollywood hell-raiser, taking in a Q&A with a reluctant host, Sir Dickie directing some amateurs in one of his classic scenes and much more, including some deliciously awkward interaction with an audience member who decided to try to be funnier than our host. He did not succeed.

The conversation covered such topics as why Jeremy Irons doesn’t move his mouth while he talks, the inspiration for The Colour Of Money and how to fight like a real man. I learned an awful lot.

If you get a chance to see Sir Dickie Benson in person, I genuinely don’t think there is an experience like it in live comedy today;  not for the faint hearted but genuinely rewarding.

Review by Steve Shooter