That last show detoured from the political material that made her work so compelling since the Tories came to power, but was every bit as funny and heartfelt.
Explaining the name he picked for this road show, Detour, he deadpanned, "Where I come from, when people would ask 'Where you going?' the answer was always 'We're going on de tour".
As ever on the show, these detours aren't delays.
And while her wonderful new show makes detours into Broadway, it concentrates on top-drawer country and folk-flavored songs by the likes of Janis Ian, Tom Waits, Michael McDonald and John Prine.
So for a few years the show took detours, with characters hooking up, splitting up, meeting new people, having life adventures that did not always drive the overarching story forward.
Theoretical analyses show that detours that increase flight distance by up to 20% will often be adaptive on aerodynamic grounds - a bird that loads itself with food to cross a long barrier flies less efficiently.
At 19, during a year abroad in London, she accidentally attended an early Sex Pistols show and detoured to France for a brief affair with Lawrence Durrell.
That concept accounted for most of a show that detoured halfway through into more traditional Armani territory: slouchy, soft body-hugging short jackets, amply cut trousers that were still less voluminous than the designer's favorite Zoave pants and an awful lot of perforated leather.
(Prayer and love are implied. And his other shows, The Layover, essentially a frenetic catalog of things to do in 36 hours, and The Taste, a game show, are puzzling detours that I'm choosing to overlook).
