WHEN I was a kid, the Paul Daniels TV show in the early 1980s would wheel on glitzy variety acts each week: jugglers, fire breathers, sword swallowers and an array of oddities.

Then alternative comedy kicked in and the cabaret acts made way for mouthy men with attitudes. It wasn't, in fact, the last gasp of the variety show, which has always existed in some form and has received a shot in the arm by being resurrected on Britain's Got Talent.

Martin Witts, former York Theatre Royal carpenter and the impresario behind the Great Yorkshire Fringe, has described Variety Soup by Slightly Fat Features as one of his favourite shows and it wasn't hard to see why.

The seven-man ensemble in this 75-minute show are brilliantly talented, turning their hands to magic, music and comedy. The vaudevillian aspect is done with love: a "lady" is sawn in half, a magician wheels on two surly panthers, and the classic bullet-caught-in-the-teeth moment is revisited. But it's all done with lashings of irony and tongue-in-cheek humour. Every entertainment cliche is turned on its head in ingenious ways.

The group is led by the affable Goronwy Thom, a dead ringer for Aled Jones – he gets the resemblance out of the way early on – who has played everywhere from the Royal National Theatre to Moscow State Circus. This versatility is reflected in his companions, and the constant creativity of the show is fantastic: from a man being wrapped in cellophane to a group impersonation of a fountain, it is full of surprises.

The comedy is pitched perfectly: adult enough, but fun and light enough to take your kids to, and without the nastiness that can land comics such as Frankie Boyle in trouble. There are nods of the head to silent movies, Tommy Cooper and Monty Python, and to the cynicism of our age: even the pretend janitors look fed up as they toss glitter over the stage at opportune moments.

Herbie Treehead is a dispirited caretaker who gets his cues wrong, but has a moment of musical joy at the end of the show. This seemed apt: in a world where the news is often dark and distressing, Variety Soup provides a welcome relief. I can't recall a live show where I've laughed so much. Go and see it. It's running all week and I'd be surprised if there's a better show in York this week.

Great Yorkshire Fringe, Slightly Fat Features in Variety Soup, The Turn Pot, St Sampson's Square, York, until Sunday, 5.30pm each evening. Box office: 01904 500600 or at greatyorkshirefringe.com