AMAZINGLY odd tricks can sometimes sound lame when you try to describe them.

An audience at Leicester Square Theatre sat mesmerised by Rod Laver on Thursday (June 27).

It wasn’t an Aussie oldie smashing forehands or talking about Wimbledon but a well-dressed Englishman juggling table-tennis balls – in his mouth.

No amount of me telling you how incredible this spectacle was will do it justice.

At one stage he had five balls in his mouth and he was able to juggle them onto the floor, onto a backboard, into the air and even to play Beethoven’s Ode to Joy on partially-filled bottles.
He was witty too.

Honor Oak juggler and comic Mat Ricardo has been gathering together a line-up of unusual variety acts like Rod every month for his London Varities shows, and they have to be seen to be believed.

This month, comedian Jenny Eclair was filthy and hilarious talking about women reaching middle age and old school Irish comic Jimmy Cricket was charmingly simple.

Another hard-to-describe variety act So and So Circus performed a staggering display of acrobatics.

Watching them fly about the stage was staggering.

The lynch-pin, of course, is Mat Ricardo, who is effortlessly charming and creates a real club feel to the evening by connecting to the audience and a series of challenges he sets himself at each show for the next one.

You can read about Mat and why he wanted to bring variety back to the West End here.

Mat Ricardo’s London Varieties will return to the Leicester Square theatre on July 24 with guests including Dave Gorman, illusionist Paul Zenon, Rayguns Look Real Enough and Edd Muir.

Tickets cost £15 or £12.50 for concessions. Go to leicestersquaretheatre.co.uk.