Spiegeltent may be old-style, but the pop up venue holds its own at the feet of Canary Wharf’s glittering skyscrapers. Not a face of it isn’t colourfully painted. Inside, carved wooden poles hold up a ballooning, red roof. The audience chat and sip drinks at dimly lit tables with the feeling that something naughty will happen once the seedy music stops…

Our host, ex-Vegas show girl Peggy Sued, may not be shy about sex but she certainly isn’t sexy. She wears glasses, has a squeaky voice and often complains about wedgies whilst yanking up one of her many skin-tight, glittery costumes. With sometimes the quickest wit for innuendos I’ve ever witnessed, a tendency to bitterly lament her 10 ex-husbands and no shyness about flirting heavily with the stage crew and audience members, she is likeable and hilarious, seemingly without even having to try. Peggy Sued strikes a balance between naughty and nice that leans in the audience’s favour. She terrorises a few city workers into hobbling onto the stage like confused Boris Johnsons but, with her self-deprecating jokes and moans over her dry sex life, only her character is humiliated and audience members return to their seats psychologically intact.

Each act is introduced with the cheers and claps Peggy Sued whisks up from the crowd, an indulgent atmosphere which makes the whole night fizz. Not that juggler Rod Laver needs it. The audience is caught in the palm of Laver’s hand as he juggles both normally and with his mouth, occasionally stretching the skin of his cheeks translucent as the balls fall there. Beethoven would probably have wanted his music to live beyond his time – but maybe not through the sound of ping pong balls firing through Laver’s lips, hitting gin bottles filled with liquid to varying degrees and slowly, note by note, producing ‘Ode to Joy’. Not as delicate as the classical piano, but musically correct and tantalisingly bizarre.

Bizarre seems to be a theme. Inexplicably, the time-travelling, magical duo Morgan & West have stepped out the Victorian era with 19th century props and costume, strict timing and technique, and prim and proper manners. It’s easy to explain why the audience loves them for it. What is currently named The New Trick lets us glimpse the workings behind the magic and enjoy delicious superiority over a victim audience member oblivious to the explanation, feeling a little like a magician ourselves as we do nothing but tipsily blink up at the stage. Though the occasional joke fell flat and the occasional trick was drawn out, Morgan & West are unfailingly engaging.

Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer strips some bling from conventional hip-hop and lays the beats for quintessential Englishness, politeness and – of course – tea. With his catchy tunes and perfectly ordered moustached, Mr B is as well-practiced as any Gentleman in what he does. But if what you do is innately limited in its interestingness and funniness by a stereotyped character and lyrics, then you’re in quite a pickle. A joke becomes old if you tell it enough times, even with charm. As a musician, though, his cult following might convince me there’s something worth listening to.

So much for 16+. Thankfully, the heat is raised with Felipe Reyes’ eyebrow-raising shirtless acrobatics and Sophia St Villier’s undeniably sexy burlesque striptease. A testament to her dedication to her character, when the wig is taken off at the end and she returns to her London accent, you suspect Abigail Collins could be commandingly sexy if she weren’t playing Peggy Sued. Still, most acts are appropriate for children but clearly can be loved by boozing adults just as much.

Peggy Sued’s Variety Pack played at the Spiegeltent Canary Wharf on 10 September. For more information about the Spiegeltent Festival, see the Spiegeltent website.