IT takes a special kind of talent to have an audience in fits of laughter for the best part of two hours, but Jenny Eclair has that in spades.

Ms Eclair, 54, and celebrating 30 years in showbiz, brought her one-woman show, Eclairious, to the Corn Exchange as the first event in this year’s Devizes Festival, last Wednesday night.

Her material is what a previous generation might have termed “vulgar” and is not for the nervous. What is not gynaecological is lavatorial and hugely funny.

Her ebullient banter is irresistible and the one-liners just keep coming.

On health: “The doctor told me I had to do something that had the blood pumping and the heart thumping; so I took up shoplifting.”

On children: “Kids are slugs in Velcro shoes.”

On co-habiting: “We’ve shared a bed for 30 years: he has it on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.”

Like all good stand-ups in the tradition of Jim Davidson, Billy Connolly and Woody Allen, her comedy is based on everyday life and her observations of middle age, motherhood and men were spot on, as the laughter, not just from the women in the audience, bore witness.

Why are there no female spies in espionage movies? Their investigative and observational skills are much better than men’s.

Why are women more concerned about their weight than men? If you replaced your front door with a stable door, you could sign for a parcel without putting on trousers or a skirt.

The menopausal Ms Eclair barely paused for breath and was commendably spry throughout the evening.

The laughs never stopped and got more unrestrained as the evening came to an end.

Then she sprinted into the foyer to sign books. Yes, Ms Eclair certainly had elan.