This has been a superb month for comedy and I’ve seen some fantastic performances. As always, acts that have featured recently are time barred to enable others to shine.
Daniel Lythe
Lythe is relatively new and probably on the verge of doing more paid than open spots. Although this was a gong show, I don’t doubt that his ten is even better.
From the night:
This was a stonkingly good performance where Lythe never put a foot wrong. Structure, writing, accessibility and delivery were all absolutely spot on. There was any number of fantastic lines in this set, with the radio joke being one of the strongest I’ve heard this year and I hear a lot of jokes. Statistically, after so many acts have been voted through, the judges usually wake up and realise that someone has to be voted off and as the last act in the middle section with 4 previous acts in that part going through, I was expecting whoever was on now to be punished for that, but much to Lythe’s credit he not only went through like a shot but won the entire night by quite a margin. This was a cracking performance.
Jamie Hutchinson
A fantastic act whom I don’t see enough of. He should be better known.
From the night:
This was a perfectly pitched performance that had the entire room hooked. Hutchinson’s powerful and at times, up close and personal, performance reminded me a bit of Ian Cognito. He used the stage, the space between that and the front row and members of the audience to deliver a set that no one will forget in a hurry. The punchlines hit hard and the toppers even harder. This was a fantastic performance that near enough took the roof off.
Okse
This was a wonderful surprise. I’d not seen Okse for a fair time and so wasn’t prepared for how far he’d come in that time.
From the night:
Okse stormed it. He opened with some punchy short jokes and never really looked back from there. He built up tons of momentum and the audience loved him for it. He received a few applause breaks, Tibet was clever and he demonstrated quick wits with ‘mask’ when chatting to a chap on the second row. Queen Bee was possibly the only routine that didn’t land hard. The rest landed as hard as they possibly could. If Okse didn’t feel ten feet tall after this performance, then I’d be surprised. As said, he stormed it.
Sean Heydon
Heydon possibly has a bigger profile within the magician’s community than the comedy industry and he should be famous within both. He’s amazing.
From the night:
Heydon was amazing. This was a performance where I can’t even begin to think how he could have improved it. His performance, the magic, the comedy, audience work, his stagecraft – everything you can think of was absolutely top notch. For the price of a ticket, 50 people or so were treated to a Vegas headliner who is at the top of his game. He was hilarious and amazing, often both at the same time. There were three big magic tricks involving cards, invisibility and cans, with plenty of other aspects to lap up. It’s hard to pick a standout, although the video call to Tom’s dad might have edged it. This was simply a superb performance.
Honourable Mentions
Doug Carter, Hussein Ali, Ricky Balshaw,
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