Acts that have impressed me the most April 2023

This has been a lovely month for comedy with some great highs and the only real low being missing going to Canal House due to a family outing at the national mining museum. I’ve not been to Canal House in ages as it’s not fell right or clashed with something, so missing it was a shame.

From pro acts being even better than you’d expect, to relatively new acts surprising me with their talent, there’s been loads to enjoy. As always acts I’ve recently featured are time barred to leave space for others, so apologies there.

These are the acts that have impressed me the most:

Jack Gleadow

There’s something almost timeless about Jack’s act. You could transport him to any decade and he’d still make people laugh. His performance is massively accessible and immensely enjoyable.

From the night:

Gleadow is a fantastic performer. He’s not just a comedian, but he’s a natural all round entertainer and champion with it, too. This was a set that not only had the feeling of a full performance, but you’d have to have a heart of stone not to have your night brightened up by seeing him. This set contained props, music, room work, audience participation, daft gags, clever jokes, beautifully elaborate acting out and a heck of a lot of fun. I think the audience were doubled over for the majority of it. Gleadow is a one man entertainment machine.

Jenny Hart

Hart is a fantastic act who should be on a lot of people’s radars.

From the night:

There’s a bit of a buzz about Hart and I can see why. Even doing new material, she stood out. Before Hart had even got to the stage she had everyone clapping and singing along to something she had just made up to reflect the events of the night. She had a bit of a gift through there being an Australian in the audience and having just played the Perth fringe, she had some relatable material to hand and that went down very well. There were no end of cracking lines in her set and all were delivered with charm and a slightly exotic accent for up here. Her poem was great and the darker routine simply brought the house down. Hart is definitely going places, and probably quickly, too.

Rob Rouse

It’s not often I feature big name acts here, as everyone knows them already, but this was an absolute powerhouse of a performance.

From the night:

Rouse isn’t an act I seem to see that much of, which is a shame; so it means all the more when I do see him on a bill. He opened by having the audience singing happy birthday to Mike, ready for tomorrow and then ripping him for being quite merry on the cider. From here he gave an extremely impressive performance that was perhaps 80% improvised room work and 20% material. This all felt very natural and everything landed with the force of a sledgehammer. The references to the climate protest at the snooker were up to date and the comments about the double he’d been on were even more contemporary. This was a performance with Rouse doing a massive amount of thinking on his feet and he had people doubled up laughing. It’s probably one of the best examples of audience work I’ve ever seen. The highlight came when he was talking about condoms and directed this to a member of the audience, ‘What’s your name?’ was the question and the answer came back: ‘Johnny.’ That just took the roof off and was an unimprovable moment. This was a barnstormer of a performance.

Special Mention

Harry Jenkins

I’ve seen some cracking new acts and here’s one from this month who has what it takes to become pro. It’s not just the material or the delivery in this case, but it’s the mental attitude. Jenkins is shrewd and switched on and already has a well tuned comedy brain. He’s not on autopilot, but can turn his performance on a hat pin to take what is occurring in the room into account. Not all acts can do this well, some can’t do it at all, but for a new act to have that nous is pretty damn impressive.

From the night:

Jenkins is a very talented act, who is already bookable. He’s managed to get both a good delivery and interesting material already, which is good going. Tonight he gave the room a very astute performance. Instead of going with material, Jenkins opted for room work, referencing what had occurred during the night and not being afraid to push the envelope with the audience. Jenkins has got good comedy instincts and was the obvious winner of the show. He’s someone to watch for the future.

Honourable Mentions:

Alex Cahill, Alfie Carter, Billy Lowther, Dan Blacow, Emily Webster, Eric Max Powers, Wilson,

Basement Craics: Emily Webster, Phil Jerky, Colin Etches, Victoria Shortly, Caleb James, Alexandra Krekan, Tom Rostron, Jamie Douglas and Tommy Tomski (MC)

Tonight I was in Nottingham for Basement Craics with RockCentral. It was great to be there and it was nice to see extra chairs having to be put out as numbers were good. This cellar is a great space for comedy, even with the horrible noise bleed from upstairs. Tommy Tomski had a lovely time compering. He was on cloud 9 following his recent engagement and this formed a nice running thread that permeated his times on stage. We had some interesting people in the room, with Erik the Viking, Ernie the milkman and a few students and so on. Tommy had fun chatting to these. Whatever material Tommy creates, none of it is as strong as his real life events and the offhand manner in which he just happens to mention them during conversation with the audience really cracks me up. Tomski put the effort in and had a good night.

Emily Webster

Two words to describe Webster – precociously talented. She’s been going less than a year and has three very different tens, with two already being tenable sets. That’s pretty incredible. At the moment she’s trialling these in advance of her one person show in Leicester this June, but after that, it might benefit her to consolidate by honing these further, rather than write anything new for a while. Tonight, she spoke about her time working at Chatsworth and there were some quality lines here, with vest and appropriation being particularly so. The mischief section was great and could be expanded on to provide a very nice closing part to this routine.

Phil Jerky

It had been a while since I’d last seen Jerky and I like the direction he has gone in. Tonight he did well talking about Parkinsons and whilst not everything landed fully, there wasn’t anything fundamentally bad about his set – he had a heck of a lot more hits than misses. Going forward he might like to think more about the leg drag gag, as it was a bit obvious and some of the jokes might be stronger with less toppers, as a few areas did feel a touch strained after a few jokes, but these are minor points in what was a much improved performance.

Colin Etches

There was plenty of good stuff in Etches’ material. The writing for the bible section was his best by far, although don’t mean to be was also particularly good. Warning signs and autism were ok, but need a bit more and sex and drugs will work in some rooms, but probably not all. Etches did well.

Victoria Shortly

Shortly’s set wasn’t bad, but her writing requires a bit more work to make the most of her pleasant presence. The material about her body and her partner were both ok, but neither is yet fully formed and would benefit from having something to raise them from being more than ok. The exception to this is the same name joke from her partner routine – this is an excellent gag. With more stage time, Shortly will be much improved.

Caleb James

There’s plenty to like in James’ set and the longer he was on stage the better he became. It wouldn’t hurt him to relax a bit more and slow down his delivery, but that’s no big deal. There’s some good writing here, with the final reveal on Dudley being strong, Hawking being great and the closing routine about a gig buddy being solid, too. James mentioned different things as not being his dad’s least favourite joke a couple of times and unless I missed it, he didn’t state which was and that did leave a bit of a gap. This was a promising performance and I’d like to see more of him on stage.

Alexandra Krekan

Krekan was on a double tonight and in some respects this was unfortunate, as she’d not been there for all of Tomski’s compering and so when she opened with room work this didn’t really go anywhere, as he’d been quite thorough in talking to them, especially in his chat with Erik at the top of the night. From here she went on to do material about a former job as a doctor’s receptionist and whilst it wasn’t bad, it needed more to raise it. Krekan might have been unwise in announcing to the audience that she was dying, as this probably reinforced this idea in the minds of the room and she might otherwise have been able to retrieve the situation. This was followed by her pausing the gig and raising the fact I’d not given her a great review a few years ago. None of the audience really cared about that and just wanted to hear comedy. Whilst things didn’t go as planned tonight, hopefully things will in future.

Tom Rostron

Rostron spoke mostly about jobs and there was some decent enough stuff here, but he’d benefit from editing down the number of words he spoke so that the funny doesn’t get lost amongst them all. There were good laughs during his set and he has a base from which to build.

Jamie Douglas

Douglas did well. The material about being middle class was decent, the languages section was better and the routine about prejudices in films has definite legs. It’s quite possible that he could develop that further, not so much by listing other incongruous casting decisions, but by digging deeper. I don’t think anyone else is doing much on that and he could make more of it. The world cup exchange joke was especially good and I can see that doing very well at every gig.

Craftworks: Jamie Stevens, Dan Blacow, Eric Max Powers, Ciaran Mullins, Alfie Carter, Kent Cameron and Greg Philips (MC)

Tonight I was in Mosborough for the Laffa Cakes comedy night and it’s surprisingly convenient to go to, with clear roads and easy parking. I wish all gigs were like that. It wasn’t so easy to get back from, with two road closures, mind. However, you couldn’t fault the comedy or the venue for being a great night of entertainment. The new lay out works surprisingly well, too, which is a bonus. Greg Philips had a fun night compering. He’s relaxed and remembers who he has previously spoken to and this helps it to feel like an inclusive event. Tonight, Greg spoke about fatherhood, which was good and he also had a chat to the owner of Myla, the smallest dog in the world and he wasn’t too worried about dealing with a few noisy people at the bar or those who came in during the intermission. This was good steady compering that kept the night on track.

Jamie Stevens

With a pleasantly open demeanour, Stevens began the night well. Bums was a good routine and the self-deprecating line he took certainly helped to sell it. Tonsils wasn’t bad and the spare key has mileage (nice to see it tied into his earlier material), but the dad material isn’t quite there. If Stevens were to tighten up the wording in a couple of places, then that would be no bad thing. This was a good set with no real problems.

Dan Blacow

Blacow is an act I’m seeing a fair bit of and that’s fine by me. His performance is good and he’s always a reliable act. Tonight was no different. He received consistent laughs, and Greg was laughing his head off at ‘nose’. The material about his mum was top notch and counsellor was pretty damn good, too. This was a solid set.

Eric Max Powers

I’d only seen Powers the once before this and I’d liked what I’d seen. Tonight he did just as well as before. Kidnap was a great small routine and it was lovely to see him maintain momentum throughout his set. This was a good performance with Powers making his material all the more relatable to the audience.

Ciaran Mullins

Mullins was a new act to me and I’m very glad that I’ve seen him. His material is quite left field, his pacing and energy almost that of a one-liner comic and his hit rate is impressive. This made for a very strong performance. The writing was universally good and the punchlines not obvious. I was pleased to see the hints of darker material. This was a very good set.

Alfie Carter

I’ve seen Carter a couple of times and he’s impressed me on both occasions. I like how relaxed he is on stage. When this is combined with his good writing and intelligent delivery, you’ve got someone who makes a big impression. Carter is an act who has found his voice and has lots of potential. One of the joys of tonight was watching Greg nearly fall off his stool laughing at Carter’s Queen joke.

Kent Cameron

Cameron is a solid act and it’s no bad thing that he’s moved into the area. He began by referencing his height and he astutely tied this into current affairs to make it feel all the more present. The calpol jokes got a big response and the bus routine was an excellent story. There’s plenty to like here.

The Final Whistle – Richard Morton, Wilson and Rob Rouse

Tonight I was in Southwell for the Funhouse Gig. Mike initially began chatting to a couple of electrical engineers and then moved on to someone new, who turned out to be a manufacturing engineer. He found someone far more entertaining to talk to in the form of a pub landlord, who had come across the county to see the gig. Before long we were ready for our opening act.

Richard Morton

I’ve seen Morton a few times and always enjoyed his act. He’s very easy to listen to and his humour comes naturally. The opening about lookalikes was solid and easy to follow. Also, the look on Hammersmith was splendidly done. There was plenty of relaxed and enjoyable room work interspersed with Morton’s material and his skill and experience sold it easily. I loved the moment when he asked the room who had teenage kids and a woman put her hand up, then took it back down, with the reason being that she’d just remembered her son was 30. This was a very entertaining set and it was lovely to see both updated references and some new material here.

Wilson

I last saw Wilson doing a belter of a set at the Blessington Carriage in Derby, so I was very happy to see him being progressed and appearing here. Tonight he gave another powerful performance. His delivery was spot on and his writing impressive. This was a very well constructed set and impossible to fault, as he did everything right, including having an impeccable logic to his material. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Wilson play with the audience’s expectations, hit them from a different angle and then throw in a topper. It would be great to see him gigging more up here.

Rob Rouse

The Blessington Carriage – Gong Show: Ben Robinson, Scott Ambrose, Richard Woolgar, Bo Walker, Jack Butler, Tash Coyle, Alex Cahill, Jamie Johnson, TJ McDonald, Alex Alcock, and Harry Jenkins

Tonight I was in Derby for the Funhouse gong show. These are always tremendously good fun as you really don’t know what you’re going to get. Whilst the audience wasn’t as large as usual, it was great to see Elaine there with friends, as I think we’ve all missed her. Between the teaching assistants for disabled kids, architects and doctors, Mike had a lot of fun talking to Luna who worked for Toby Carvery and enquiring about their signature dish.

Ben Robinson

In a rush because he had a train to catch back to Morecambe, Robinson went on first. Whilst his material was a bit explicit for so early in the night, there was a lot to like here. Panto was good, as was same time and cost me deserved a lot more than it received. Whilst Robinson had a youthful enthusiasm that aided his delivery, his material did feel a bit disjointed instead of being a cohesive set. I was sorry to see him get gonged off, as I was enjoying what I saw and I’d like to see him again.

Scott Ambrose

Ambrose never really found his feet. He opened well enough with a bit of crowd work for the two dogs present and whilst the toad line was definitely too early in the night, he just seemed to lose momentum when talking about Scotland and never really recovered it. This was a shame, as I think he could have achieved more. Owing to Mike reading his name out by accident in the cheer off, he did receive a nice amount of applause with the actual finalists.

Richard Woolgar

I last saw Woolgar at the NBT and he’d not had a bad night, especially for a first gig. His stage presence and delivery had been far stronger than his writing and tonight it was more or less the same. There were a few nice ideas here, but his writing isn’t yet fully formed. The Olympics was an impressive feat of memory, but ate up time and the punchline didn’t really justify the amount of trouble. Woolgar made it through to the final where he came out with his strongest material.

Bo Walker

Although Bo’s not been gigging that much recently due to college work, Walker has a tremendous amount of nervous energy and tonight they did well. The film jokes were good and Bo was consistently funny throughout his set. I even enjoyed their habit of dipping the mic on each punchline. Walker was a late gonging in a decision that could have gone either way.

Jack Butler

There was plenty to enjoy in Butler’s performance. He’s got quite a cultured voice, chose his words well and his delivery was well paced. His material concerned a couple of anecdotes and these were strong enough to place him in the final. Unfortunately he mistimed his final minute.

Tash Coyle

Coyle opened with a few local references and then went on to talking about working in Summer camps in America. This was a steady enough performance where she said a lot of words, but there just wasn’t enough that was funny amongst them to make a stronger impression. She received laughs, but if she were to cut down the set ups and exposition, she would be a lot more punchy. Coyle went out at the final hurdle.

Alex Cahill

Comedy magicians are always a welcome addition at any gig and Cahill had a great night. He opened with a card trick, which was spectacular, the fingers added some comedy and ‘Don’t be so stupid’ was one of the best lines of the night. He easily made it through to the final and carried on being just as impressive here. He was runner up of the night.

Jamie Johnson

Johnson was probably the least experienced act on the bill and despite working from notes and looking very nervous, he put in a creditable performance. His reference points were bang up to date and whilst he could do with some stronger jokes and relaxing more on stage, this will all come in time. His voting off was an unpopular decision and it would be good to see him return.

TJ McDonald

Having the feel of an experienced act McDonald did very well. He began with a bit of outsider looking in material, as a New Zealander who has been living over here a while. Accents was decent, currency fine, as was Tesco, but he hit a great run with T2 and this saw him into the clap off at the end.

Alex Alcock

Alcock began logically enough with a series of gags about his name, which were all easy to get onboard with. He then went on to talk about his days in the navy and his sex life. There was a lot of very unique material here that flowed well and was strong. Alcock’s delivery was quite relaxed and this worked well. He made it through to the final, where he worked in a great callback.

Harry Jenkins

The New Barrack Tavern: Billy Lowther, Eppie Brilliant, Alfie Carter, Lucy Holbrook, Jenny Hart, Jack Gleadow and Anthony Williams (MC)

Tonight I was in Sheffield, at that nicest of Funhouse gigs, The New Barrack Tavern. As ever, the comics were made to feel valued by Kev and Stephanie and the audience were totally up for a night of comedy. This gig is a real joy for the comics to play.

Anthony Williams (MC)

Our compere, Anthony Williams, had a cracking night, he mixed quick wits, quality material and the sort of general knowledge that would win a pub quiz to build the atmosphere. It was great to see a new routine, donating blood, being given a run out. I was impressed by Anthony making a snap decision to ignore a late comer rather than point him out, as that would have run counter to the mood he had created. This was a very savvy decision. This was top notch compering that was done so well to almost appear low key. You have to be highly skilled to make something like this look almost second nature.

Billy Lowther

It had been years since I last saw Lowther and so I was particularly excited to see him on the bill. Pre-pandemic, he was doing paid twenties and was phenomenally good and so it’s great to see him getting back into things. Tonight, although this was only a ten, he hit all of the right notes and in the right order. Lowther’s delivery is slow. Gloriously so. The audience gets time to savour his jokes and to laugh; tonight there was no shortage of big laughs. Possibly my favourite line concerns the band, but in truth, I like them all. This was a tremendous performance that got us off to a flying start.

Eppie Brilliant

Brilliant opened well and continued the good work from there, all of the way through her set. The songs were short and punchy, her audience work solid and I don’t believe she put a foot wrong. The audience requests were handled superbly. This was a light-hearted and fun performance that no one could dislike.

Alfie Carter

Carter’s a fairly new act, but they’ve definitely got funny bones. His performance contained numerous changes of direction and this not only kept it fresh, but it seemed to raise the energy in the room, too. Carter’s a skilled writer and he easily stays on the accessible side of surreal. His material is nicely different and easy to get onboard with. Argos was a superb routine, and chess was possibly even a touch better. This was an impressive set.

Lucy Holbrook

Holbrook’s performance involved a change in energy, being more subdued and down to earth. This absolutely suited her material and worked very well in harmony with what she was saying. The tedium of office colleagues and enthusiastic parents was EXTREMELY relatable to the room and even for those who perhaps haven’t set foot in an office, she made her points well enough for everyone to get the jokes. This was a set with no end of laughter and given the quality of the material, I’m not surprised. Usually acts who have a quiet, low energy delivery find that the room dips a bit during their performance, but Holbrook didn’t suffer from that, which may be due to it just being a ten spot, but I suspect it is more to do with everyone being happy to buy into what she was saying, because they’ve been inflicted by the people whom she describes. ‘Grateful’ was a belter of a line.

Jenny Hart

Jack Gleadow

This was an absolutely fantastic gig. The sort that will probably have lifted the audience for the whole week. Alright, it was a sold out room, but I’m still flabbergasted that more people don’t go to live comedy when they can see nights like this.