Tonight I was in Nottingham at Canal House for the NCF comedy night. This is a cracking night, but just a bit of a pain to get to and park up since the one way system was changed and so on. Given how bad the weather was, audience numbers weren’t too bad and it was lovely to see Jacob Nussey there, on a rare night off, although I did wish he’d been on the bill.
Benny Shakes (MC)
I like Benny’s act, but was curious to see him compering, as I’d not seen him do so before. He did very well and it was nice to see people asking to have their photo taken with him during the breaks. I was surprised how much he got out of product design when a chap sat at the front turned out to do this for a living. The guy who was involved in ‘adult entertainment’ (worked in a casino) was a definite gift and Benny made the most of it. Whilst he didn’t really need to do any material between the acts, Benny’s reaction to the struggle of getting the mic back in its stand provided for a wonderful running gag and I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed his asides. This was good compering and I’ll be happy to see Benny doing more of it.
Ishi Khan
Ishi is a well experienced act and a very personable presence. However, her material lets her down, but it’s easier to write material than it is to be personable, so it’s not the end of the world. She opened with an anecdote concerning her and Benny gigging, which was ok, but not that strong to open with. The response from Derby was a very good line and made all the more so by her choosing the correct local shit town. Up skirting, her main routine, unfortunately ate up a lot of time and the punchlines weren’t strong enough to justify it. There were a few nice lines in this routine, so if it were edited for pace, it would be stronger. What Ishi really needs, though, are a few killer lines that land hard. These would benefit her set no end.
Ruby Murray
I had mixed feelings about Murray. I’ll start with the good. She’s a charismatic presence, possibly the life and soul of any gathering, and she was able to get the room to go with her material, joining in the performance of having their chakras realigned. However, there was no real comedy in what she was doing. This was a ten minute set that was incredibly light on jokes. It was her personality that carried it. Arriving at the stage in a Yoda mask and a rainbow coloured cape, Murray was visibly interesting, but these items didn’t go any further. Before long, she’d got the audience going Om and so on. It felt less like comedy and more like a works’ life skills session being led by a charismatic teacher who had once had dreams of becoming a Red Coat at Butlins. Given just how good a presence she is on stage, if Murray can get some material, then she would do a lot better.
Jack King
King has a pleasant and easy going personality and tonight was his best ever gig. It’s great to see acts improving with every performance. He opened by humming ‘So Spake Zarathrustra’ and had four people in a row give the wrong response, which was unfortunate. If he were to have a ready joke for this eventuality, then he’d be onto a winner. King’s set was mostly one-liners and wonderfully many of these were bang up to date, written this week to reflect what is in the news. This made them feel fresh. A few of the more intellectual reference points seemed to go over peoples’ heads and that’s a shame, as the construction of the jokes was solid enough. The darker jokes all hit home hard, though, and he received big laughs for them. During this set, King had to deal with a few shout outs from the front row, but this didn’t put him off of his stride and he got laughs from it, which was nice to see. This was a great performance and if he keeps on writing and performing, I’ll be happy.
Harry Ali
Doing a 5 spot and on his 6th ever gig (the pandemic got in the way), Ali did a lot of things right. He looked confident, not like someone so new and he also had a high level of polish, more than quite a few more experienced acts. His mic technique was spot on, the construction of his set well thought out. The pacing, delivery and material was all good. There was only one joke that I wasn’t that enamoured by, but that was because it was basically a repetition of the previous joke (cotton socks). This was an impressive performance.
Pat Draper
It was a pleasure to see Draper. He’s a solid act, totally reliable and you know that whenever he’s on a bill, he’s going to be good. Tonight, it was business as usual for him. He was immediately funny and had the audience eating out of his hand. There was an admirable sense of stage craft to what Pat was doing. He’d been listening all night, knew who was who, what they did and so was able to make callbacks and these all landed incredibly hard. He is quick witted and was able to incorporate a lot of extra things into his set, such as the lady who needed the toilet. It was nice to see his professionalism in realising he’d been side tracked and so didn’t have the time to do the second poem of the night and not letting his set overrun as a result. This was a joy of a performance.
Kai Samra
A pro act from outside of the area, recently moved to Nottingham and looking for new material nights, Samra is going to be an asset to the local scene. He is a smooth performer and a good writer who basically gave the audience a pro 20 set to finish off the night. Surprisingly for such an experienced act, he held the mic too low and used his voice instead of the speakers to make himself heard. This aside, all was good with his set. It was a strong performance and whilst a couple of directions he went in felt familiar, he had his own take on them and the routine about his dad was a real standout. I look forward to seeing more of him.
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