The Saracen’s Head – Rob Rouse, Josh Elton, Mad Ron and Stephen Bailey

Tonight I was in Southwell at the Saracen’s Head for the Funhouse comedy night. I really like this gig, as not only do my folks and Sallyboo come, too, but it’s always nice to see Mike performing in his home town. As he knows most of the audience, it’s good to see him having to think on his feet. Tonight he chatted to an IT specialist, who wasn’t able to help him with his Facebook profile, a chap who was a big The Rasmus fan, Liam a solicitor turned stockbroker, which prompted the question of had he also been an estate agent, as well as the local councillors who were in. This was laid back cheerful compering that soon had the room ready for comedy.

Rob Rouse

Rouse is a very bankable performer and the last time he was in Southwell, there was a great moment when he was talking about rubber johnies and he asked a chap in the audience – ‘What’s your name?’ ‘Johnny,’ which brought the house down. Tonight, Rob gave the room a set that covered a lot of ground, taking in coughing (nice to see it had been developed further), glasses, parties and soldering. This was all delivered with a lot of energy and panache. Oddly the audience seemed to dip in and out of the material, really going with some bits, but not so much with all and that was unusual, as it was all of a good quality and I’ve seen it take the roof off before.

Josh Elton

Josh was new to me and I think I’ll be seeing a lot of him in the future. He’s a confident presence and has the ability to go much further. His material was solid and there was a lovely sense of performance to his delivery. It was wonderful to see him tying material into individual audience members and using the correct local references, despite being based in S Wales. This made what he was saying feel very much of the here and now. His timing on moved in was absolutely spot on. This was a very impressive performance.

Mad Ron

It’s always a pleasure to see Mad Ron and the audience agreed. He’s a superb act on every level. There was nothing at all to find fault with in what he did. His construction, material, delivery, timing and even the way in which he subtly played with the audience’s expectations were absolutely top notch. He has a great choice of words and it’s always lovely to see an act treat an audience as intelligent and to use references that they have to do that tiny bit of thinking about before they laugh. The message and reply were standout moments on what was a superb night of comedy. I’ve never seen Mad Ron have a bad gig and I doubt if I ever will.

Stephen Bailey

Bailey is a fantastic act and one whose career is really taking off, so it was great to see him still being willing to come to Southwell. He has bags of charm and was instantly adored by the audience, whom he proceeded to play like a piano. He took them in a lot of different directions with his material and as he did it so well, everyone was happy to travel there with him. Bailey has an exceptional stage presence and was thoroughly enjoyed by the whole audience.

Acts that have impressed me the most: April 2024

This has been a great month for comedy. Between a wonderful gig in Belper and some great gong shows, I’ve seen some very talented acts. In fact the ability of some of the newer acts has been amazing.

As always, acts that I could mention every time, such as A Bird are time barred, as are those who have featured recently.

Acts that have impressed me the most:

Dragos Mostenescu

Musical and great fun. Someone with a nicely different act.

From the night:

Mostenescu had a superb gig. He’s a musical comic and in the 5 minutes, plus the final, he gave the room differencing nations versions of Let it Be, prompting a singalong and then arms being waved in the air. His final 60 seconds built upon this good work. It’s hard to describe his set beyond this, as there weren’t any obvious gags, as such. It was all in his creativity and delivery, but this was a real crowd pleaser and he emerged as the winner of the contest. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Mostenescu as this was a most entertaining performance.

Rick Goodman

Amazingly creative and very funny.

From the night:

I’d only seen Goodman once before and he’d put in a fantastic performance at the Ashby super gong, so I had him down as a very strong contender tonight. There’s absolutely nothing to dislike about his performance and plenty to admire. Goodman is very creative and his performance was easily the most creative of the night. Whilst plenty of others had good writing, very strong writing in some cases, Goodman’s talents go in lots of different directions and whatever he was doing felt different and above all interesting. He has a real eye for the audience and a feel for what would work and how far the room would go with something. There were a lot of subtle elements to his performance that came together very well. His final minute involved a high risk move with an audience member that paid off with a big laugh. Goodman was the winner of the night and I expect to see a lot more of him. He’s very bookable, but personally, I enjoyed not only his comedy, but also his expertise on the technical side of things.

Stuart Moore

Very new and doing a lot right already. Amazingly, he’s also a magician and it’s possible that he may be even more entertaining incorporating magic into his act.

From the night:

On their 7^th gig, Moore had a belter of a night, doing almost everything right. He was quickly funny at the top. Had intelligent writing and his material was solid. He skirted on receiving applause a few times. Cockerpoo was great, food just as good and he sailed into the final without any trouble. Moore’s final minute was promising, but mistimed and that cost him placing higher up. This is someone who I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more of. He’d be a fool not to take this further.

Honourable Mentions:

Alex Egan, Becky Heaviside, Hazel Donovan, Henning Nilsen, Niall O’Dwyer

The Blessington Carriage Gong Show: Harry Chalmers-Morris, Stuart Moore, Grant Birkin, Carl Charlesworth, Niall O’Dwyer, Ed Pooley, Kyran Scott, Liesl Soards, Heeren Bhundia, Dominic Marshall, Rick Goodman, Colin Etches, Matthew Peartree and Daniel Lythe

Tonight I was in Derby at the Blessington Carriage for the Funhouse gong show. This place attracts a super audience and tonight they gave Mike plenty to work with. He talked to a lady who worked for Rolls Royce, an architect/archaeologist as he misheard her and a GP receptionist, which led into material about things being pulled from orifices. With 14 acts on the bill, the room were in for a treat.

Harry Chalmers-Morris

I last saw Chalmers-Morris five years or so where they’d done pretty well. Tonight things didn’t go too badly, but I don’t think they’ve been gigging that frequently and so lacked an edge. The voice material was all ok, but could have been more punchy. Testosterone and voice was good, as was contraceptive, but unfortunately they were gonged off before they got to go further.

Stuart Moore

Grant Birkin

Birkin has a mixed night. On the downside, the coffee maker gag was just a reworking of the old cock in the bacon slicer joke and he ran out of steam before his time was up. However, the good outweighed the bad. T shirt was very well thought out and original, the construction of his set was good, although he’s not yet got the experience for it to fully mesh.

Carl Charlesworth

Charlesworth opened with a bit of a groaner, which he sold well. Five guys was ok, but the car broke down ate up time without really going very far. Neither Charlesworth’s material nor his delivery was that polished, but there was nothing fundamentally wrong with anything he did and with more experience he’ll become far better.

Niall O’Dwyer

I saw Niall last week, where he’d been doing some new material and that had all gone pretty well. Tonight he continued the good work. He’s a very good writer and apart from swapping out Wakefield for Strangeways or Belmarsh for instant recognition, there was nothing wrong with what he did tonight. His delivery was smooth and even his new material felt polished. He made the final without any trouble and it can’t be long before he’s better known than he is.

Ed Pooley

On his second gig, I had mixed feelings about Pooley. During Mike’s compering, items extracted from holes featured strongly and being a medical professional, Pooley’s 5 minutes was actually all about this. A definite gift from the comedy gods for him. He had a good choice of words and was easy to listen to and made it into the final without breaking sweat. However, to me, it felt less like a comedy performance and more like him resaying things said at a works’ do and it did make me wonder how he’d do once he’d exhausted stuff from work as a topic. I’m probably being unfair to Pooley, as he is new and contrary to what I was expecting, he did have more diverse material for the final minute. He had a good gig and the audience definitely enjoyed him.

Kyran Scott

Scott mostly talked about army recruitment and despite there being a nice sense of logic to this, it wasn’t especially funny enough before the voting and off he went.

Liesl Soards

I saw Soards on her first ever performance and whilst the writing wasn’t what it will become, her presence and personality were impressive. Tonight she did well, but made a couple of tactical errors that possibly cost her a place in the final. Her opening comments about single people needs a punchline for each and every likely response, as having a quality joke that is quickly funny at the top would buy her more time to go into the deeper material. Being called into school was good. I liked her little hand movement on worse things in the mouth, as that helped her sell the line. The quick correction on 80s was also good. However, Liesel, had the timing of the spot wrong and this threw her pacing out, with her being set in to build her performance over a longer time span and despite this being a bouncy feel good set, she was eventually gonged.

Heeren Bhundia

I last saw Bhundia at the Golden Fleece, where he’d done pretty well. Tonight he was even better and I shouldn’t be surprised if he’s not much improved the next time I see him. He had original material to open with and driver deserved far more laughter than it received. Bhundia’s material and delivery had a nice flow to it and there was a very welcome level of polish to his performance. He made the final and delivered an entertaining final minute.

Dominic Marshall

Marshall is still fairly inexperienced and to go further all he needs is more stage time and more writing. His material and delivery are both decent enough, but will obviously improve with more experience. The room enjoyed him and he was another late gonging.

Rick Goodman

Colin Etches

I’d not seen Etches for a while and he began well tonight, with his forceful delivery of biblical material. This all went down pretty well and he was getting some good laughs. I thought he was going to make it to the final, but when he changed topic to talk about veganism he managed to lose just enough of the judges to be voted off.

Matthew Peartree

Peartree made it into the final, but I wasn’t that sure about his material or direction. It felt a tad one note, with working from home used as a euphemism for wanking and then other cock jokes, etc. Peartree did a fair bit of audience work, but much of it involved putting people on the spot and making them feel uncomfortable, with him asking them if they ‘worked from home’, or had had an affair. Him accusing one of the judges of having a small cock quite possibly saved him from being gonged, as it made it difficult for that judge to vote him off without looking as if he was sore about things.

Daniel Lythe

Lythe is a cracking act as well as a former winner here and so was here tonight to do a bit of a new stuff and to be seen. He has some great material and his delivery is on par with it. It was lovely to see him thinking on his feet when it came to favourite films and his room work was shrewd. He skirted on applause a few times and never looked like he wasn’t going to be a finalist. For his final minute he had a gift as the mic stand had sunk down to a low level, which he made the most of and then filled the minute with a callback and punchy jokes.

The Kayal gong show: Hazel Donovan, Keith Miller, Eddy Dibs, Joel Webster, Niall O’Dwyer, Henning Nilsen, Gary Leonardi, Aaron Williams, Sonja Reddy, Jack King, Fraser Ball, Dom Marshall, Phil Irving and Dragos Mostenescu

Tonight I was in Leicester for the Funhouse gong show, courtesy of a car share. This is a very nice gig in a room that you’d never know was there, otherwise. Spiky Mike, the birthday boy, had lots of fun chatting to a family that had mother and daughter, both working as estate agents for differing companies and also to a building conservator. It was lovely to see Neal Sullivan present and as always, the votes were on 2 minutes, 3.30 and then the final one on the 5 minutes.

Hazel Donovan

I was looking forward to seeing how Donovan had improved. When I saw her last, the only thing that had let her down was her material, which had been too long in the set up and this had given the audience time to guess the reveals. Everything else had been fine. Tonight, she was massively improved in every way. She opened well, her reveals were well hidden, the construction was sound, with the callback being very well thought out, her material darker and more hard hitting. The Angela joke has a lot of potential. She’s definitely onto something with this, but the current wording isn’t getting the most out of it. Hazel was a well deserved runner up on the night.

Keith Miller

With his flowing Irish accent, Miller was very pleasant and easy to listen to. He made a strong start talking about his looks, there was a bit of a lull over mortgage, but minted was clever. He made the final, where he talked about his job and this was all pretty good, too. Miller did well, but requires better writing to go further.

Eddy Dibs

Dibs opened by talking about his height and this was all ok, albeit not especially strong. The identity of the heckler was a usual suspect, which weakened the joke and the shift to trains was a bit of a jump, which spoilt the flow of the set. Dibs was an early gonging.

Joel Webster

Webster’s set was one of the great what ifs of the night. He was very slow out of the blocks, being deliberately awkward looking on stage before going into an anti-comedy routine deconstructing what was occurring. He was voted off before this came to fruition. However, what if he’d opened with a couple of immediately funny remarks that had gained him enough good will to survive the first vote? It was obvious what he was trying to do and it was a clever idea, but the vote clock ran out too soon for him. His off the cuff remark on seeing the cards got a good laugh and that was nice. Ultimately what Webster was trying probably isn’t suited to a gong show, but over a ten, if he can get it to work, I think he’ll have some excellent intelligent comedy.

Niall O’Dwyer

I like O’Dwyer. He has some nice ideas, but as I always say, without more consistent stage time, he’s not going to be able to make the most of them and that’s a shame. Tonight he was doing some new material and as he’s a good writer, most of it was usable. Hobbies is sound and the callback worked out very well, even if he might have undersold the reveal a touch. Old friends is good, but if he edits it down for pacing, it will be even better. The swimming pool gag he used in the final was great.

Henning Nilsen

Nilsen’s performance was one of the standouts of the night and I was surprised that he didn’t win, considering that this worked on every level. His writing is rock solid, his delivery and timing spot on. There was nothing to find fault with here. Nilsen received consistent big laughs and was one of the strongest acts of the show. He came out 3^rd in the voting.

Gary Leonardi

Leonardi had the hard task of following Nilsen and whilst his writing wasn’t bad, the set as a whole didn’t feel that cohesive, never really rising above the sum of its parts. It’s possible that a stronger delivery might have helped, but I think if he were to construct a set that felt more than individual jokes that could be told in almost any order, he’d do better.

Aaron Williams

Williams was a fast speaking act whose pace built up some momentum. He also got stronger the longer he was on stage. The highlight to his performance was the fun fair voices, which his ability to do a different voice helped to sell. His final minute was good, too.

Sonja Reddy

I feel as if Reddy has a wealth of possible material that she could use from her own life and it’s possible that this may work better than some of her writing, as amongst the good jokes in here, there are a few groaners. Tonight she was a bit unlucky in being thrown at one point and not really getting back into gear, but things like that are cured through experience. Reddy has got a good presence on stage, but really needs more stage time to develop as an act.

Jack King

King has promise, he’s always writing new material and trying out new ideas and when he develops a solid ten, he’ll do well. Tonight he opened with some audience interaction through the medium of So spake Zarathustra and this was both creative as well as attention grabbing. From here, King gave the room a selection of jokes, these were a bit hit and miss, not helped by hid pacing, which allowed a slight reset between each gag, rather than helping him build impetus. Asking the chap on the front row his kids first words resulted in a very funny audience comment and with more experience King would have been able to capitalise on that.

Fraser Ball

Ball has the makings of a good act. His every man persona and material would work in any room in the country. The religious material is great and tonight he didn’t put a foot wrong. His timing was spot on, he built up a lot of momentum and was great all of the way through. I was surprised that when it came to the voting he didn’t end up placing in the top three. Although it might not have happened tonight, it’s only a matter of time before he wins a show.

Dom Marshall

It had been a while since I last saw Marshall and he’s improving. The truth or dare material has promise, but could do with the wording tightening up to make it more punchy, as tonight he was voted off despite some of the audience really being onboard with what he was saying.

Phil Irving

Irving opened well with some room observations before going into material about his 2005 jokes. This was a nice idea, but to get the most from it, he could do with delivering a few examples of why some jokes no longer work, such as perhaps one about a celebrity who is now either not cool or is on a list, etc. These would help bring this bit to life. The school section was all pretty good and he made the final, where he massively mistimed the last minute, losing a final chance to shine.

Dragos Mostenescu

Belper Rugby Club – Andrew Bird, Becky Heaviside, Alex Egan, Gerry K and Anthony Williams (MC)

Tonight I was in Belper for the Rock Central gig at the rugby club. This was my first time at this particular venue and whilst I liked the cow shed gig, this is a big improvement in every way. The room is large enough for a big audience and so it has a bigger budget. Also, unlike the cow shed, you won’t freeze in winter and bake in summer. Even the lighting was better. This is a gig that could quite happily run for years on end and with an increasingly comedy savvy audience, will be a joy for acts to play.

Anthony Williams (MC)

It’s always a joy to see Anthony at work. Everything I admire about his compering skills was in evidence tonight. New and topical material, fun interactions, remembering who people are, keeping it tight, this was all spot on. Anthony had a fun front row, which included a kayak salesman and Timmy the firefighter, who was out on his birthday. He made quite a lot of these, but perhaps the best part was the new routine about gammon baiting. It’s already good, but is something that could be updated for whatever is in the news that week.

Andrew Bird

Bird is a fantastic act. He’s a brilliant storyteller who really brings the audience into what he is saying and his opening routine about a vicar and a hoover was linked almost effortlessly into his opening remarks. The school photo routine received huge laughs, but to me the most enjoyable part were the (new to me) catholic car jokes. These were superb, possibly topped by the aftershave, which was also fantastic. The spa hotel was very easy to picture and brought the house down. This set was solid gold from beginning to end.

Becky Heaviside

It had been a few years since I last saw Becky, and her set, equally intellectual and well thought out as it was earthy in places, went down very well with the room. She was confident in front of the audience and built her performance up very nicely, with a lot of applause being received throughout. The prop gag was great and hurdles maybe even better, with experimentation being another great routine.

Alex Egan

I’d not seen Egan before, so was especially interested in seeing what they had to offer and it was all very impressive. They had plenty of energy and were funny from the off, with a delivery that commanded attention. Boxing was brilliant, as was the later callback. His timing on Paris spot on and his little action in raising his arm to get the cheer on Paris was a wonderful way of setting up the punchline for the twist. The construction was good. Egan will go further.

Gerry K

I’d last seen Gerry in Southwell, where he’d had a great gig and tonight he was an assured presence, with years of experience on show. There were plenty of great routines here, friend’s flat, family, Countdown, they all landed. I thought stocky was a very clever line. The London Marathon joke went down especially well with the audience, despite it being a bit of a Facebook fixture every year, but this was mostly due to his skill in selling it. This was a crowd pleaser of a performance.

Acts that have impressed me the most: March 2024

This has been another month of brilliant comedy. Highlights have included the New Barrack Tavern (surely the nicest gig in the country?) and the super gong show in Ashby – most of the acts who performed there could have made it onto this list.

As always, acts that I could mention every time, such as Peter Brush and Jacob Nussey, or were mentioned last month like S Hampton, are excluded to give others a chance to shine.

Doug Carter

Carter is phenomenal. Not many acts have his charisma.

From the night:

Carter’s a cracking act, so I was very pleased to see him on the bill tonight and he had a belter of a gig. He came to the stage full of energy and the room liked him from the off. He has a superb stage presence and never came close to putting a foot wrong. His material was strong, he delivered it with gusto and the sailed into the final without any problems at all. The audience loved him. Doug’s final minute was rock solid and he won the night by a landslide.

Jim Brown

Still fairly new, but improving rapidly and has now found their voice.

From the night:

The more I see of Brown, the more I like the direction he’s going in. Both Anthony and I agreed that he was looking for confident and this came through in his performance. The oven clock was nicely quirky and I liked how he developed that simple premise. Rotherham was an excellent choice for a local shit town, but he might have been able to improve it by saying ‘decided that’ll do’ instead of finished then. Brown received a huge laugh for the Match of the Day punchline and the city break idea was good, but might have been stronger if instead of ‘down the road’, he’d fleshed it out a bit more by saying Ipswich or Middlesbrough. This was a very accessible set from someone who is really coming on.

Stevie Gray

I’ve seen a lot of Stevie, but this was him on a different level.

From the night:

It’s always a pleasure to see Stevie and I was really looking forward to seeing him take the roof off and he didn’t let me down. This was possibly the hardest I’ve ever seen him work at a gig and it was a joy to see him not only doing so, but having so much fun in the process. Sensing the audience was taking a bit of settling down, not helped by that big support in the centre of the room providing a hiding place for talkers, he began by roasting everyone. This went down a treat and he imposed his authority and got everyone onboard through sheer force of personality. From here, he went into his classic material, with everything landing, especially the pirate. All of this was helped no end by Stevie astutely making what he said relevant to the audience through making it about Yorkshire. This was a very shrewd move. When it looked like he was about to finish half of the audience began to chant that they wanted more. It’s lovely when an act is so well appreciated. Stevie then gave the room more in the shape of songs that had gotten him banned from venues and these were a real treat. It was great to see him having fun and entertaining so many people.

The Halls of the Ridiculous

This was something very nicely different and it felt extremely refreshing.

From the night:

It’s always nice to see acts receive progression and The Halls were successful in their try out spot in Derby, so it’s no surprise to see them again, but in a bigger room, this time. They look visually interesting in their stage clothing and their performance consists of a number of scenes helped along by written suggestions from the audience. This is quite a nice change to the standard performer with a mic and they didn’t half raise the energy in the room. They began by pointing out a few quick celeb lookalikes in the audience and this was funny and fast at the top and then they went into the first scene. This was all very entertaining and the audience were fully invested in what they were doing. The only problem was the short length of the set. They’d have been better with a fifteen or more, as ten wasn’t really long enough and it was interesting to hear the cries of dismay from the room when they announced that their time was up – everyone wanted more. It was great to see people coming up to thank them during the intermission.

Honourable Mentions:

Dan Lythe, Maxine Wade, Niall O’Dwyer, Pat Smith, Tom Ratcliffe,

Craftworks – Jacob Nussey, John Flint, Liesl Soards, Stevie Gray and Greg Philips (MC)

Tonight I was in Mosborough for the Laffa Cakes comedy night. I really like this gig. The audience are lovely, the venue intimate and it’s extremely convenient to get to. It also attracts a wide variety of acts. It was quite a full room and it was lovely to see Ryan Stephenson out supporting the night.

Greg Philips (MC)

With his residency and a returning audience this could be a tough gig to compere, but Greg has enough local knowledge to know exactly the right reaction for whichever street people live on and he remembers who is whom. With the room being split in half by a big support, it’s not easy to play, let alone MC and it’s very difficult not to concentrate just on those people sat next to the stage, even though they were really up for the night. Greg had fun with a careers advisor and a girl who bought magnets for a living.

Jacob Nussey

Fresh from tour support for Russell Kane, Jacob was here trying out some new material and his class shone through from the off. The Amazon material is gold, with the new bit about the blackout being absolutely solid. Topped and tailed by his established stuff, this was a strong performance and it was very nice to see him dealing marvellously firmly with a shout out.

John Flint

Flint has quite a dry sense of humour and to begin with it was hard to make out what he was saying, as he had the mic too close to his mouth. The majority of his set consisted of him reading out his version of a transcript from Pet Rescue. This was all pleasant enough and he got laughs, but I think a few people’s attention wandered towards the end of his recital. This was low key enjoyable.

Liesl Soards

This was Soards’ second ever performance and in many ways it was impressive. She knows how to construct a set and ending on a callback gave a nice feeling of completeness to her performance. In addition to this, she has likeability and stage presence. The audience liked her as a person and were happy to hear what she had to say. Not many people master this, so to have it come naturally is good going. Soards wasn’t hurt by looking happy to be there and being full of energy, either. Her material, as you’d expect for a second gig, was more mixed. She has some nice ideas and the having a break line was great, but at present, naturally not everything is as good as it will become. With more gigging Soards will become a very good act.

Stevie Gray

Ashby – Special Gong Show – Niall O’Dwyer, Rick Goodman, Fraser Ball, Paul Dennis, Tom Ratcliffe, Daniel Blacow, Stephen Hampton, Alexandra Krekan, Daniel Lythe, Doug Carter, Nuala Ryan and Pat Smith

Tonight I was in Ashby for a special Funhouse gong show. This was for a larger prize and most of the acts credible semi pros. Ashby is usually a gig where TV names feature on the bills, so this was something nicely different for the audience and with it being a big room, holding many people, this gave it quite an atmosphere. There was a big audience, many of whom hadn’t been before and they were treated to a cracking night. Mike had a great night compering, getting a lot back from the audience.

Some of the comics are more used to doing 20s, and so this was quite a change for them, with only getting 7 minutes with 3 votes and then 60 seconds in the final, if they made it that far. There were five judges and I felt that they were incredibly inconsistent and out of step with the greater opinion of the audience. They were voting acts off who were doing well, even ones who had just received an applause break. One of the judges seemed to be going for the red card at almost every chance and as a result there were quite a few unfair gongings of acts that were entertaining the vast majority.

Niall O’Dwyer

Dwyer is a promising act who is held back through not being able to gig often, but I’m very pleased to say that he had his best ever gig tonight. He opened the show, but his material is very accessible and he has a nice open manner that is easy to get on-board with. It might not hurt him to change out wanker for tosser, as not all went with that so early on, but he never really looked back. Aggression was great, as was the calendar and he did very well, making the final, where he gave the room a well timed last minute.

Rick Goodman

Goodman was a lovely surprise. He has a low status presence, low energy and is almost anti-comedy in his approach. However, this just lulled the audience into a false expectation as his extremely well written material and well pitched delivery held the room almost effortlessly. This was a very creative set and everyone enjoyed it. Goodman made the final, where he came third.

Fraser Ball

Ball is a new act, but despite this, he opened well, with a clever callback to Goodman’s set. His material, like O’Dwyer’s was easy to get on-board with and he had a good sense of misdirection. He looked happy to be on stage and his smile as he delivered his material helped to sell it. Fraser had just received applause for Mary when he was a surprise gonging.

Paul Dennis

Dennis stood out for a few things, being Welsh, a musical act and also for his ability. He had plenty of stagecraft, his material was funny and he received big laughs for his version of Stuck in the middle with you. The room enjoyed Dennis and he made the final without any trouble. Here he gave the room another parody song, which was well received. I rather thought he’d get more votes than he did in the vote off.

Tom Ratcliffe

I’ve only seen Ratcliffe a couple of times, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen and tonight he was the most polished act on the bill. Everything he said landed well; his writing is spot on and there’s absolutely nothing to dislike in his set. Ratcliffe felt like he was on the verge of applause for a while before it all finally landed. For the final 60 seconds, Ratcliffe gave the audience more polished material and finished on a big laugh after only using 20 seconds of the 60 and it’s possible that if he’d used the other 40 seconds he would have received more votes.

Daniel Blacow

It’s always a pleasure to see Blacow on a bill and he opened tonight with a shrewd callback to a girl Mike had spoken to on the front row. From here he went into a wonderfully detailed fantasy, which was enjoyably surreal. This was shaping up to be a strong performance, he was doing well, but was suddenly voted off.

Stephen Hampton

I only saw Hampton for the first time last month and was blown away by what they do and tonight was pretty much the same. He has a marvellous turn of phrase and eye for kitchen sink drama comedy (think Alan Bennett). His writing is very imaginative and he has just the word to get the most from what he is saying. I hurt myself laughing at him and possibly a few others did, too. Hampton easily made the final, where he gave another strong performance. Despite this being only his 10^th gig, Hampton pushed hard for third place.

Alexandra Krekan

It had been a while since I last saw Krekan on stage and so I was very interested in seeing how she has developed in the meantime. She made a slightly slow start, but got a big laugh for the GP receptionist material, but unfortunately lost momentum from there and didn’t make the final.

Daniel Lythe

Lythe is a strong act who put in a characteristically skilled performance. He dealt deftly with one of the few shout outs of the night, incorporating it into his set as a callback – this was very nicely done. His material was funny, there were some clever lines in there, but like so many other acts of the night, he fell victim to a gonging just after applause.

Doug Carter

Carter’s a cracking act, so I was very pleased to see him on the bill tonight and he had a belter of a gig. He came to the stage full of energy and the room liked him from the off. He has a superb stage presence and never came close to putting a foot wrong. His material was strong, he delivered it with gusto and then sailed into the final without any problems at all. The audience loved him. Doug’s final minute was rock solid and he won the night by a landslide.

Nuala Ryan

Ryan’s set wasn’t bad at all, it was all very pleasant, however, she never really seemed to reach critical mass with the audience. There was plenty of laughter, but she needed that one really big joke to land hard to get everyone on side and unfortunately she was voted off before this occurred.

Pat Smith

Smith had a great gig, coming second in the contest. He looks happy and confident on stage, his writing is powerful, the construction solid and his delivery sells it well. Even his timing is spot on. There were a lot of fantastic jokes in his set and I’d very much like to see more of him. If Carter hadn’t been there, then Smith would have been the standout comedian of the night.

The Saracen’s Head – Stephen Grant, The Halls of the Ridiculous, Peter Brush and Glenn Moore

Tonight I was in Southwell for the Funhouse Comedy night. This is a very nice gig, made all the sweeter by my mum and dad coming with me. Mike always has a lot of fun here, even though there can’t be many people in the audience that he hasn’t spoken to over the years. Tonight Mike got a huge laugh for falling off of the stage and realising he wasn’t going to top that, brought an act on.

Stephen Grant

I last saw SG 6 years ago in this exact same room. He’d impressed me then with the strength of his room work and he was just as good tonight with this bonus length set. The fast speaking Grant was funny from the off and maintained the momentum throughout his performance. Lll’s and marriages were both great routines, but to me, the cycling mishap and Strava were the most powerful of his material. Grant was a happy and upbeat presence whom all enjoyed.

The Halls of the Ridiculous

Peter Brush

Brush was the act I was most looking forward to seeing. He’s a belter of an act and I’ve never seen him do less than smash a gig. He’s a superb writer and the craft that has gone into his well thought out material is something that I really admire. It was no surprise to see him getting huge laughs throughout his set. The salon was just one of many excellent routines.

Glenn Moore

It had been a while since I last saw Moore, but I remember clever wordplay and misdirection forming the backbone of his performance and he continued with the unexpected reveals tonight. It was wonderful watching him leading the room in one direction before pulling the rug from under any assumptions they had. The running gags were great and this was a set that I think you may have to listen to more than once to get everything, as there were so many little jokes interspersed throughout. There was absolutely no flab in his writing; every word was only there because it was strictly necessary. Moore had a great gig.

The New Barrack Tavern: Eddie French, Jim Brown, Maxine Wade, Caleb James, Jamie Douglas, Mike Newell and Anthony Williams (MC)

Tonight I was in Sheffield at the New Barrack Tavern for the Funhouse Comedy night. As ever, this pub was a joy to be in. The audience and the atmosphere are always fantastic and they were definitely up for being entertained.

Anthony Williams (MC)

It’s great watching Williams at work. He’s well used to having the residency here and has the perfect balance of new things to talk about, so it doesn’t feel stale, but he also has enough nods to previous things said to make this gig feel like a shared communal event. Tonight, Anthony had two gifts. A front row made up of fairly elderly folk, which gave him an opening for a great (and original) Covid joke, and the darts final being on, which he turned into a nice running joke. In addition to this, his material on tribute acts and Butlins were both great, but the best routine he did concerned Glasgow Wonka World, which is a keepr and should work well for the next few years.

Eddie French

French opened by discussing their backstory, which was easy to get on-board with. The non-binary material might have split the room a touch, but it was funny and also educational. The routine about The Traitors was very timely. The song brought everyone into the set and made for a fun ending to their performance.

Jim Brown

Maxine Wade

I was especially looking forward to seeing Wade tonight, as she’s riding a bit of a wave at the moment and she didn’t disappoint. I thought she was a touch slow out of the blocks to begin with, but she really made up for that and got stronger the longer she was on. Leopard print and murder was ok, but it was when she talked about where she had allegedly been walking before the gig and then tied it into Ed, sat on the front row, when her set took off in a big way. From here Wade never looked back and everything she said landed hard. Maxine was particularly powerful in making her material feel relevant to the room by tying it in to various people sat there. I was impressed by how well she did this and thoroughly enjoyed her performance. She went down well with the whole audience.

Caleb James

James is totally reliable and I’ve yet to see him have a bad gig. It was also nice to see some new material from him tonight, as smart writing will never go out of fashion. The dog routine was nicely tied in to the presence of a dog in the audience, but might have been stretched out one joke, too long. As ever, Solihull and dating were absolutely rock solid. He skated on the verge of applause for the response of his friend’s sister.

Jamie Douglas

Douglas has impressed me every time I’ve seen him with his mix of clever material. Tonight it took him a few minutes to find his feet, but from here on, everything went very well. How he didn’t receive applause for Florence, I’ll never know. There was a great mix of topics covered in this set and it felt quite fast moving. Everything landed well, but with a few less errs and a bit more polish, Douglas will be a great act.

Mike Newell

I first saw Newell when he was guest starring in Kev’s Komedy Kitchen, a fantastic Edinburgh show and he had made a big impression then and tonight he was just as good. Newell is very laid back and will be casually talking about life before dropping out a killer reveal that hits home hard, because everyone has been lulled by his delivery. There was no end of great stuff in this set. The proposal and wedding was pitched exactly right. Fitness and football was a big hit and the cycling material especially good. There was absolutely bags of relatability for the audience to find in his set. This was a great ending to what had been a great night.