"WELCOME to The Mechanics," said comedian Tim Vine opening his stand-up show at the Burnley Theatre.

"In fact, welcome no matter what job you do."

And so began a tirade of quick-fire puns so fast that I was still laughing at the previous joke halfway through the next one.

The self-titled "punslinger" walked out on stage dressed as a cowboy and delivered his first shot of cowboy-flavoured puns. Seven of them to be precise - and all magnificent (see what he did there?) The former world record holder for the most jokes told in an hour pumped the fast one-liners out without respite so that by the end of the show literally hundreds of gags had poured out of him.

He also did plenty of visual gags, aided by a holdall of props he brought with him.

Putting a piece of cardboard with a hole cut out over his head, he told the audience: "I don't know why I put myself through this."

And wandering onto the stage wearing half a football on his head, like a hat, he pondered. "I don't know why but I keep getting my head kicked in."

Sounds silly written down, but believe me it was funny when you were there.

Some of the best jokes of the night for me were: "I had a horrible dream last night that I was stuck driving round a roundabout, steering the car with one hand and flipping pancakes with the other. I was tossing and turning all night."

And: "I used to run a dating agency for chickens but I had to give it up. It was really difficult to make hens meet."

All in all, a good night out and a solid performance - my boyfriend would probably heap even more praise on Tim. By the end his face was actually aching from laughing so much.

Support act John Archer, the comedy magician, deserves a mention too. His mind-reading and general fooling about with the audience were a breath of fresh air.