IT'S rude, it's crude and it's certainly not PC, but if you like your comedy black and delivered by singing puppets, you'll feel right at home when you stroll down Avenue Q.

The sweary Broadway smash has left New York stages to unleash its band of crazed muppet-like creatures on the world; Think Sesame Street, if it were hijacked by the writers of South Park.

A howling New Theatre audience were given musical lessons on everything from sex to race relations, as singing puppeteers carried the impressive moving monsters around the stage, while they turned the air blue.

Most of the jokes (and song titles) are unrepeatable and, at times, you can tell the script is from a few years ago, with some risqué gags sitting in today's climate better than others.

But, for me at least, the biggest shock wasn't the near-the-knuckle jokes, but the reveal of a sweet love story at the centre of it all.

The city street that gives the show its name was created on stage with signs and trash cans, for this children's TV show gone wrong.

Big Bird, Elmo and the Cookie Monster might have been more into ABCs than F words, but Avenue Q continues their educational mission in its own filthy fashion.

Avenue Q runs at New Theatre, Cardiff, until Saturday June 22.

Declan Harte