Smart must mean something different in Australia. When I heard that Wil Anderson was a smart Australian comedian I was expecting someone with attitude, someone who had some new comedic insights into our place on the planet. Not someone who did jokes about the difference between cats and dogs. Just because you introduce a canine v feline routine by saying that you know it is well-trodden ground doesn't make you a Stewart Lee-style meta-comedian.

Ah well, there goes another one. The death of Bill Pertwee, aka ARP Warden Hodges from Dad's Army has died, aged 86. Cue tributes, trending on Twitter and Tweets which are variations on the theme of his light being finally put out in honour of his famous "Put that light out!" catchphrase.

The London comedy scene goes global this week with two shows from visitors from the colonies. Australian comedian Wil Anderson opens at the Soho Theatre on Monday and is there until June 8. Back home Anderson is a pretty big star – slick, smart and very witty, though not entirely averse to dick jokes.

Normally at a comedy gig I feel self-conscious whipping out my notebook. But Robert Newman's modestly-titled New Theory of Evolution is not a normal comedy show. At times it feels so much like a lecture that taking notes feels perfectly natural.