Tonight I was in Derby at Bar One for the start of Funhouse’s Summer season. It’s nice to be back here and it feels like ages since I last saw a gong show. The beauty with these is that you never know exactly what you’re going to see. Often, though, the standard is surprisingly good. This was quite a well attended contest, with Brent Reid present as well as acts Niall O’Dwyer and Pat Draper. Possibly the most exotic member of the audience was a Vietnamese lady who was on holiday visiting family in Ilkeston. Spiky Mike had a lot of fun compering this, finding much to talk about with a couple of late comers and a doctor who had had to remove a couple of unlikely objects from people.
Zack Jenking
Opening the show was Jenking, on his first ever gig. Jenking is a prop comedian from the Welsh borders and this will immediately make people think of Roger Swift, but in truth, apart from being funny, that is where the similarities end. Jenking had a tremendous gig, ending up as second on the night. If he doesn’t carry on gigging, then he’d be daft. His jokes were all pretty strong, even if the odd one required a bit of thinking about. His use of Poppy, sat in the audience, as a reference point, was astute. He might be better advised to write material on his hand instead of using his phone, but that’s a minor point. This was a splendid set.
Gary Pitt
Pitt suffered a bit in comparison to Jenking, but he wasn’t without his own talents. Charges was good, but the Saville joke felt a bit gratuitous, almost used for the sake of being edgy, although with a bit more panache, I could see it landing better. Pitt ran out of steam before the five minutes were up.
Kevin McDonnell
McDonnell was probably the most nicely odd act of the show. He mixes rock solid down to earth observations with a dose of surrealism and the end result is surprisingly powerful. I did feel that he may have lost a few people with spread cheese, but he swiftly got them back with the tale of Barbara. McDonnell was compelling listening and I’d like to see him again. He made it through to the final with ease and if he’d not mistimed that last minute, he would have been a contender.
Kayvan Khazaee
Khazaee opened with room work and he wasn’t afraid to break the 4th wall and talk to the audience about things such as outside noises. The bulk of his material concerned a routine about his dad, which was ok, but the mask section probably went on a bit beyond its natural life. The call back was good, but again suffered from being a bit too long for what was essentially the same joke. He did well in the final.
Grace Siddington
We resumed after the intermission with Siddington, who was on her first ever gig. Much of her material was based around trying to write jokes whilst looking after kids. These weren’t bad, but weren’t that strong, either. Siddington was a pleasant presence, but she never really got into her stride.
Jack McLean
McLean looked plausible from the moment they stepped onto the stage. He resembles a young Russell Howard with a moustache and he has a big smile, which gives his whole performance an upbeat ambience. His material was strong, with some good writing evident. McLean had a lot more polish to his performance than anyone else and a good stage presence, too. His delivery was also skilled, with a great pause on fine now. I wasn’t surprised when he was the winner of the show. McLean is a bookable act.
Paul Newton
This was Newton’s first gig and he gave a mixed performance. A few of the topics he went into are fairly well travelled, such as comparing gigging to sex and so on. However, dad was a cracking joke and that really showed what he’s capable of when thinking a bit more about his material. The stuff about his daughter and also dog years showed a good sense of construction. Newton did run out of material four minutes in, but it would be nice to see him try again, as with a bit of a rethink he’ll do far better.
Neal Sullivan
With his eclectic set, Sullivan managed to entertain the room. Confused was a particularly good line and whilst not everything landed, he did well and provided much enjoyment.
Conor Cafolla
Cafolla, like McClean, looked good from the off. His A3 props were easy to see and he received applause for Australian. It’s nice to see a science based set and there was a pleasing level of creativity to what he was doing. I expected Cafolla to make a better showing in the final, where he might have pushed for a top spot, but instead, his final minute was a touch flat in comparison to the rest of his performance.
Chris Yates
Yates was an act who got stronger the longer he was on stage. I like the way his brain works in creating his material. There was a lot to enjoy here. This was a performance that rolled along nicely with lots of good jokes and the occasional outstanding one. His final minute was particularly good. Yates has both good writing and delivery. He probably should have placed higher than he did.
Liam Feldman
Feldman opened with a smart callback to McDonnell’s set, but from here gave the patchiest performance of the night. You could see what he was trying to achieve, but it didn’t always come together. However, whilst there was plenty that wasn’t so great, his best lines always seemed to fall close to a vote and so he made it through to the final, which was nice to see.
Kyle Bedder
Bedder stood out with his somewhat intense delivery. His material was decent enough, with locks on bridges being good and the suicide line especially so. I think he might have suffered a bit from going on at the end and would have had more chance to shine if he’d been earlier in the running order. Bedder made the final easily enough.
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