Here he is. The marionette on the left. He's called The Showman, I'm told, and is from Igor Stravinsky's ballet Petrushka. He juggles, stares fiercely and looks like he's from Azerbaijan. Why have a puppet MC?

Well, I thought that to have The Showman introduce their first non-puppet performer (i.e. me) ever to appear to the Little Angel Puppet Theatre would be a way of respecting the traditions of this beautiful venue. For his part, The Showman is desperate to break into stand up cos he's sick of wooden ballet.

The plan is that we do some business together at the top of the show, which I'll start working on next week. His handler, the puppeteer Ronnie Le Drew, tells me The Showman upstages everyone who ever tries to share a stage with him. Hah! He may try, darlink. He may try.

20th May - 25th May, and 29th May - 31st May at the Little Angel Puppet Theatre, 14 Dagmar Passage, Off Cross Street, Islington, London N1 2DN. Tickets are £10, show starts at 8pm. Here's a map, as the venue is hidden away down a back street by a graveyard...

From a Devil's Orchard made by lemon ants, to female buffalo voting which way to go, from Prince Kropotkin escaping a Tsarist dungeon to altruistic vampire bats and Richard Dawkins' postman wrestling naked, Rob Newman argues that cooperation drives evolution more than competition.

Rob standing outside the dilapidated laboratory where the experimental research upon which the new live show is based is conducted.

Says Rob: "These dates will be the show's debut, the first time I perform the show proper and not as a work in progress, but as the thing itself.

For the venue, this will be the first time they've ever had a non-puppet show at this theatre, the first time they have ever done stand up comedy here. I've badgered and wheedled, begged and pleaded the Little Angel Theatre to let us perform here despite not being a puppet - because I love this wonderful little venue. It's got a great vibe. It's a hidden gem.

Peek through its workshop windows and you'll see between the woodwork benches, eerily beautiful, expertly-crafted marionettes hanging from the rafters, like there's been a lynching in Puppet County."

Here's one of the stars of the show: the social amoeba Dicty Disco!

Robert Newman's New Theory of Evolution is headlining the Kings Place Festival in Hall One on Saturday September 14th at 9.30 pm.

Rob has asked the festival organisers to apologise on his behalf to Daniel Barenboim, Simon Rattle and the Berlin Phil. for the fact that his appearance kicks them off that coveted 9.30pm Hall One slot, which they had their eyes on.