Fascinating Aida are a three lady cabaret trio who have been performing on and off (mostly on) since 1983. Their latest incarnation features long-time members Dillie Keane and Adèle Anderson alongside newcomer Sarah-Louise Young (who has lowered the average age in one fair swoop, they claim). Why it has taken me so long to see them on one of their extensive UK tours is something of a mystery – indeed, I have held off watching too much material online or on DVD thinking that they would be best viewed live – and now, at last, I have been let into their inner sanctum. It’s a good place to be. Let me make it clear first and foremost that an evening with Fascinating Aida is not for the faint hearted. As Dillie Keane – pianist and racounteur extraordinaire – says, if you’re of a nervous disposition, what on earth are you doing here? Or words to that effect.

The title of this latest tour, which follows a successful season at the Edinburgh Festival and precedes a London season at the Charing Cross Theatre this Christmas – is Cheap Flights. This is by far the funniest and most popular of the series of sketches and songs that the three ladies present to us all evening. In fact, it has made the trio something of a global phomenon with over six million – you read it right – hits on YouTube. It’s a hilarious tribute to cheap air travel which has to be seen to be believed and I challenge anyone to travel on a budget airline ever again without recalling their witty rendition. ‘It’s about time we had a ******* hit’ comments Dillie.

The trio cleverly commentate on life as it really is today, taking in taxation, euthanasia, religion, sex, love and loss – amongst others – along the way. Small wonder then that they have garnered something of a cult following over the years, playing countless West End seasons and appearing all over the world from New York to Australia. Adèle Anderson – a tall, brunette in glitzy array who has many musicals to her credit – shines in her solo moments, including the witty Mr, Mrs and Me, documenting her romance with a married man. Dillie Keane – a hilarious commentator whose life and work is documented in a witty and often insightful, sometimes controversial, column in The Stage newspaper – makes her mark in a tribute to al-fresco sex, Dogging. Do read her column for a warts-and-all behind-the-scenes look at backstage life and the perils of life on tour. And newest member Sarah-Louise Young – an alumni of the improvised musical Showstopper – makes her mark in her solo moments, including a risque song about a one-night stand. However, the best moments of the evening come when the three girls are performing together, and the trio perform a hilarious ‘Bulgarian’ song series (reprised in the second half), featuring recent news events, from the London riots to Cheryl Cole. A popular supermarket which is in danger of taking over the human race also receives the Fascinating Aida treatment, in a very witty number.

Much mention is made of the transient nature of their life and work, moving on to another town the following evening, and the Little Chef gets its own special tribute as something to look out for. However, the trio go one step further and cleverly integrate a song about their current location into the show and have obviously gone to the trouble of not only looking around town but finding out about local landmarks and working them in. No wonder the show seems so fresh with girls who are obviously so on the ball. They reveal that they have made many friends during their travels, some of whom are alas no longer there to greet them any more, in a poignant number about those lost friends.

It’s rare to see a group of three ladies with such obvious talent who work so well as a group and yet also as solo performers in their own moments in the spotlight within the show. Combine that with very witty writing – hats off to Dillie and Adèle in particular – and you have a very amusing and winning combination with quality moments aplenty. Witty, insightful, naughty, moving...Fascinating Aida are all of these and much more.