Tonight I was in Sheffield at the New Barrack Tavern for the Funhouse comedy night. This is always a superb night to attend and I’m forever grateful to Kev and Steph who run the place. I’m also hoping that Kev gets well soon, as it’s not quite the same without him. Numbers weren’t bad, especially considering the cold. I was a bit surprised to run into fairly heavy snow when I got back home and was glad it wasn’t coming down on the way out.

Anthony Williams (MC)

Williams is always superb and tonight he had fun chatting to Dan the ambulance man (strangest object removed, a Nokia phone) and his partner who worked in a sauna. Williams got to demonstrate his quick wits with a tech support joke I’d not heard before and one on suspicious activity. Anthony kept his sections tight and set everything up nicely for the acts.

Luke Harrower

Always interesting and beginning to make a name for himself, Harrower opened well. He spoke about his life, which was good stuff, although I did wonder if it might have made more impact if the audience had gotten to know him a bit first, as then they’d have had chance to buy into him as a person. The burials were fantastic as was the work with a volunteer and it was great to see him ending on a prop gag.

Wendy King

King has some nice ideas, with cycling and Cheggers being notably interesting. She does, however, say a lot of words and not all of them add value. If she were to record her set, watch it back with her material in front of her, and then cross out every extraneous word, then she’d be left with something that had a lot more punch and this would help her build momentum. There is a fair bit of charm in her wordy delivery and whilst that’s nice to see, I can’t help but wonder if she’d be stronger for this pruning.

Josh Sedman

It’s always wonderful when you see that magical moment when it all comes together for an act and this was one of those nights. Resplendent with his new tache, Sedman had a great gig. His Christmas themed opening was of immediate interest, the prop gag that it built to was tremendous, the room work was rock solid, his set had polish and flowed smoothly and it’s no wonder that he was rewarded with so much laughter. Him finishing on a call back to something Anthony had discussed an hour earlier was simply the icing on the cake.

Aarian Mehrabani

With his cultured voice, Mehrabani had an audience singsong and then deconstructed She’ll be coming round the mountain. This was all ok enough and whilst he might have been a bit sweary, he had enough charm to keep the audience with him. The sexual health material was perhaps stronger and the room enjoyed him.

Jonny Brook

Brook is a fantastic act and it’s always a joy to see him, as tadaah! remains one of my favourite opening gags. Tonight he was doing a ten and frankly I think he needs a twenty to really take the audience into his life. A lot of his material is personal and he needs that time to build up his world. Over ten, you don’t get even a fraction of the mirth you get from a twenty with Jonny.

Eddy Brimson

The last time I saw Brimson had been in this very room and he’d had a great gig then and tonight was no different. He was immediately funny and his talk about unusual gigs and venues effortlessly engaged the audience. From here he went on to talk about relationships, terminology, ghosts and an highly engrossing raid he was involved in. All of this was extremely entertaining and as a very skilled comedian, he gave the audience a fantastic time.

This has been a fantastic month for comedy. I’ve been to some great gigs and seen some fantastic acts, some more than once.

As ever, acts whom I could name every time I see them, such as Dawn Bailey, Stevie G, Kevin Daniel, are time barred to give others a chance.

Debbie Holt

Not yet that well known, but in a year or so, she’s gone from gong shows to picking up paid work.

From the night:

The third time I’ve seen Holt this month, it was no hardship to see her again. Her material and delivery were as delightful as ever, but what impressed me tonight was her stagecraft and balls. She stood in the centre of the room, shouted through at the guys being noisy watching the sport and attempted to get the whole population of the pub facing in the right direction and with their mouths shut. This took a lot of doing and whilst the sports crowd didn’t really join in, she certainly made a gig of it and did very well with the chap who was deaf. Holt probably had the best gig of anyone on the bill.

El Baldiniho

Someone who should have a higher profile.

From the night:

Wonderfully different, El Baldiniho was always going to be a winner at this gig. He made a flying start and never looked back. His wonderfully tongue in cheek jokes were delivered with panache and I think the running gag with the sweating was something that everyone massively enjoyed. There was absolutely bags of creativity evident in this performance and he reaped the reward in consistent big laughs. One guy looked like he was dying with laughter. This was a magnificent performance.

Silky

It’s always great when someone lives up to what you’ve heard about them.

From the night:

Silky has an awesome reputation, but he’s an act I hardly ever see. I last saw him at Bluey’s in 2017, so I was very pleased to see his name on the bill tonight and by heck, was he fantastic. There was a lot that stood out in his performance. First of all, the sheer stagecraft. Silky had an almost magical feel for the audience and their energy, playing them like a fiddle. Secondly, there was his ability to think on his feet and ad lib such a long and varied song that took in various events that were unique to that audience, such as Ben and Layla who last went to the gig ten years ago and had seen him then and the presence of Marge the dog. Thirdly, there was the sheer intelligence behind all that he was doing. Even the ostensibly silly jokes were cleverly written and of impeccable construction. When one chap cried out part way through his set, ‘this guy’s funny!’ he wasn’t wrong. This was superb.

Stephen Catling

Catling could become a cult hit.

From the night:

Catling is absolutely spellbinding on stage with his wonderfully quirky mind and I think the good people of Kiveton will remember him for a long time. He opened by performing a short service from the Church of Dog. This was, as you’d expect from him, delightfully barmy and very very funny. This was followed by a set that combined some very clever and insightful jokes with more off the wall set pieces and the result was an absolute joy to see.

Honourable Mentions

Marty Riley, Pat Draper (MC),

Tonight I was in North Whittington for the To Gata comedy night, a gig that dropped in on a rare quiet night for me. To Gata are a sort of comedy grouping made up of some core acts, associates and also happens to be the stage name of David Brown, which makes sense when he explains it on stage.

The pub we were in tonight was The Rising Sun and I’d be surprised if in ten years of reviewing, I’ve been in a venue less suitable for live performances. It’s a small pub that has two halves, with a huge opening between them, so that whatever is occurring in one half is impossible to miss in the other. Tonight the other half of the pub was watching football and darts and making a lot of noise about it all. In addition, on our side of the bar, the room was awkwardly shaped, which meant that probably half of the people who were in the correct area couldn’t see the stage as they were round the bend. Oh, and we had a chap stood on our side of the bar talking loudly, but as he had industrial deafness, he was totally oblivious to the acts with the mic and sound system and whenever he was challenged to be quiet, it all had to be repeated to him, as he truly couldn’t hear. Another small issue, was the filming for the socials – very useful, but it’s better for the person with the camera to just pick a perch and not to keep standing in front of the act for a few moments to get content.

As you can appreciate, this was always going to be something of an uphill struggle for all of the acts.

To Gata (MC and a short set)

This was To Gata’s second ever gig and so obviously there is a lot of room for improvement, as would be natural for anyone. Compering and then slipping into a short set usually isn’t best practice, but as they are so new, they didn’t really MC the room and instead functioned as an act in whole. Going forward, when compering it is best to say a few quickly funny things, talk to a few members of the audience and find out a few facts about them so that the acts can use them if applicable, explain the format of the night, 3 acts doing 10 minutes and then a break, and then anotherr 3 acts, etc, do the rules, no talking whilst the acts are on, don’t walk across the performance area to the door to the smoking area and so on. Stuff like this will come with experience. Regarding the material, bus driving has potential, 12 days of Christmas was timely even if a bit long for anyone not invested in it, but quite a few of the jokes could do with work, as I think some of the audience got to the punchline before he did. None of this is disastrous in a new act and To Gata was confident on stage and with time will get there.

James Smith

Smith has some good stuff and it’s always nice to see him at a gig. He opened with some very astute observational room work which netted him applause, albeit with the downside that it was that good at the top that I think the audience wanted the rest of his set to be about them. Smith did well, received laughs, and he deserved more appreciation than he received.

John Stannard

I saw Stannard a few years ago at the Golden Fleece and he’d been a bit of a mixed bag, with some nice ideas and some things that hadn’t quite come off. Tonight, despite looking happy to be there, he struggled to get much traction with the room. There were simply too many people moving around for him to make the most of his performance. Prostrate was decent enough, but as said, the lack of audience discipline was against him.

Big Shaun

I last saw Big Shaun in Kiveton, where he’d had a good night and he continued that tonight. He has definite gravity and his knock knock opening (with prop) is pretty much proof against any mishap. From here he gave the room some new material and I liked it. Year wrapped up has a lot of potential and if he were to change the final work one to Fridays off for funeral with topper then it would hit home hard. Santa’s team meeting was great and will do well. The coffin material works well, but could be tweaked with a bit of crowd work through picking the oldest person in the room and saying, ‘no idea why I picked you, old timer,’ or something along those lines. This was an improved performance.

Debbie Holt

The third time I’ve seen Holt this month, it was no hardship to see her again. Her material and delivery were as delightful as ever, but what impressed me tonight was her stagecraft and balls. She stood in the centre of the room, shouted through at the guys being noisy watching the sport and attempted to get the whole population of the pub facing in the right direction and with their mouths shut. This took a lot of doing and whilst the sports crowd didn’t really join in, she certainly made a gig of it and did very well with the chap who was deaf. Holt probably had the best gig of anyone on the bill.

Calum Scouller

Scouller was the winner of the NBT gong in November and had impressed everyone. I liked what I saw of him before he went on, as he was busy laughing and being supportive of all of the other acts, which was really needed in a venue like this. His own performance was a bit more of a mixed bag, mostly as the noise, lack of interest from some and the sheer difficulty of explaining things to someone profoundly deaf and unaware of how disruptive they were being made performing comedy very hard. However, Scouller had enough charisma to bounce back from that and the remaining 2/3 of his performance picked up nicely. I liked the visual gag on one mile.

Russ Cutts

Doing a mixture of established and new material Cutts had a very good gig. This was despite a friend of his buzzing around with a camera in front of him and around the audience, distracting attention. There were some good jokes in here, the loo, the Deep and the poem were all good and received applause. However, there was also a lot of exposition and wasted words in the set ups. If Cutts were to cut down all of this and get his set as tight as possible, then he’ll do very well. He certainly has a firm base from which to build.

Tonight I was in Kiveton for the Laffa Cakes comedy night. Despite this gig having a Sheffield postcode, it’s actually fairly close to mine, which is a huge bonus, even if there are some horrible country roads to navigate to get to it. This was my first time here and it was great to see that it had sold out. This was the 4^th sell out in a row and that’s always brilliant, especially with an audience that are really up for being entertained.

Greg Philips (MC)

Philips had a lot of fun tonight chatting to the front row and getting to know people. However, it was great to see him talking about the area and the collective decision on Christmas lights by the houses outside. When it came to material, both toilet block and Simon were keepers.

Jim Brown

Brown had a cracking gig at the Shinnon last month and was equally great tonight. He opened with a nice visual gag, as Greg had left the mic at his height instead of ready for Jim’s 6’6, which gave him a big laugh before he’d even said anything. As always, his performance went like clockwork with his well delivered unexpected reveals getting consistent big laughs.

Marty Riley

Although I only saw Riley on Sunday night, it was great to see him having another good gig in a different room. His material is solid and his timing is spot on and he easily held the room, as everyone was curious as to where he was going to go next. It was great to see him getting applause.

Big Shaun

One of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, Big Shaun opened well with some quickly funny knock knock jokes that the room could easily emphasise with. The dieting material went down well, although the third option at the chippy was something the audience got to before he did and could perhaps be swapped out for something more left field. The jab side effects was nicely novel and when it came to coffins it was good to see him receiving applause for his size. The joke that Big Shaun closed on was well judged and ended his performance on a high. This was a set that could be a bit tighter to keep it within ten minutes, and one easy win is to lose the political jokes, as they make a point, but aren’t strong enough yet to be worth the risk.

Stephen Catling

Catling is absolutely spellbinding on stage with his wonderfully quirky mind and I think the good people of Kiveton will remember him for a long time. He opened by performing a short service from the Church of Dog. This was, as you’d expect from him, delightfully barmy and very very funny. This was followed by a set that combined some very clever and insightful jokes with more off the wall set pieces and the result was an absolute joy to see.

Stevie Gray

Always an absolute pleasure to see, Gray had a wonderful night. He opened with loads of energy and a cracking callback to Stephen’s set, before doing some great audience work. Being such a warm people person, Gray has no trouble at all in getting the most out of an audience and it’s great to watch him at work. His pirate had a lovely joke of his own when he offered up his sport of choice…. aaaaarchery. There was another great moment when Stevie was asking a chap for his p0rn of choice and he replied with amputee, as his wife, sat next to him was an amputee, which Stevie wasn’t expecting and wasn’t fazed by in the least, as he came out with a belter of a joke in response. The LGBTQ gig joke was strong and I really enjoyed everything I saw.

Tonight I was in Sheffield at the New Barrack Tavern for the Funhouse comedy show. This is an amazing gig and tonight was no exception. Kev and Steph have a cracking place here and the acts all appreciate it. In addition to a few new faces in the audience tonight, David Eagle popped along to enjoy the show and it was great to see him there. In welcoming Anthony to the stage, Kev had a few choice things to say about Christmas and these were pretty entertaining.

Anthony Williams (MC)

I’ve seen Anthony here that often that I’m running out of words to describe how excellent he is. He’s obviously enjoying himself and it shows in his enthusiasm for the room and the people there. Tonight he began by riffing off of what Kev had just mentioned mere moments earlier, showing some impressive ad lib talents. The audience work was as excellent as ever, with William’s being quick on the uptake. I especially enjoyed his chat with the vehicle diagnostic specialist. One very nice touch was Anthony’s lowering of the mic in the stand for our opening act. A small thing, but she didn’t have to mess around at the top and this all helped with the night as a whole.

Debra Holt

I only saw Holt on the Thursday just gone, but it’s no hardship to see her twice in such quick succession. Holt is an act that is improving quickly and whilst it’s early days to talk about her eventually going pro, it takes no leap of imagination to see her getting a lot more paid work. Tonight everything landed, she received applause for some particularly good jokes and it was lovely to see her tying some material into the audience as that always helps with a performance.

James Beckett

I like Beckett, but don’t tend to see that much of him and that’s a shame as he had a cracking gig tonight. He opened by doing a bit of material about his stutter. However, his method built up quite a bit of comedic tension before it was unleashed as a huge laugh. He then built on this with the story about the train journey. Phone signal really deserved applause. There were some strong performance skills evident in this well thought out performance and this is the best gig I’ve seen Beckett have by quite a way.

Marty Riley

Riley is a cracking act who has unique material that he sells well. His vocal cadence is in complete harmony with his material and persona and he certainly commands attention. The material is also strong. There was nothing to dislike in anything he did in this well received performance.

John Hassan

I saw Hassan last summer where he’d done well in Derby and tonight he had another good gig. Hassan is an intelligent writer and his dry wit comes across well. The IBS routine worked well with the audience. This was a ten that flowed nicely, although the ending, getting people to stand up, could be further exploited to end on a bigger laugh.

Dawn Bailey

The last time I saw Dawn here she’d taken the roof off and given how far she’s gone since then, getting her back was a real bonus. Tonight she took the roof off again with some new material about her hairdresser and also about jabs. The Grange Hill references are totally logical, but a touch age specific. Bailey’s delivery is delightfully conversational and it really feels as if she is taking the audience into her confidence when she performs. This was a performance that was as brilliant as ever.

Silky

Silky has an awesome reputation, but he’s an act I hardly ever see. I last saw him at Bluey’s in 2017, so I was very pleased to see his name on the bill tonight and by heck, was he fantastic. There was a lot that stood out in his performance. First of all, the sheer stagecraft. Silky had an almost magical feel for the audience and their energy, playing them like a fiddle. Secondly, there was his ability to think on his feet and ad lib such a long and varied song that took in various events that were unique to that audience, such as Ben and Layla who last went to the gig ten years ago and had seen him then and the presence of Marge the dog. Thirdly, there was the sheer intelligence behind all that he was doing. Even the ostensibly silly jokes were cleverly written and of impeccable construction. When one chap cried out part way through his set, ‘this guy’s funny!’ he wasn’t wrong. This was superb.

Tonight I was in Newstead at The Pit, a micropub that I last went to pre-Covid when Jen Bower booked a few gigs here. It’s a cracking little room that doesn’t take much to fill. Given how small it is, I was quite surprised at how far the budget had gone, as it was £8 and that included snap.

Pat Draper (MC)

Draper is a rock solid act who is always a few steps in front of the audience and tonight this came in very useful. The audience were nice and really up for comedy, but there were three chaps sat on the front row who seemed determined to try to be funny when Pat was chatting to them. A less experienced act might have struggled to handle them so adeptly, either going in too hard on them, or allowing them to dominate the interactions. Pat got a nice middle ground and handled all of the little trip hazards they put in his way. It was fun seeing him talk to a climate activist (retired) and a chap who claimed to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of p0rn. This was very good compering that didn’t need to be flashy and got the job done.

Kevin Daniel

A superb act, KD was a shrewd booking for this night. He began by telling Callum what his name meant, which was great and then he went on to talk about the room and village, building up absolutely loads of momentum. New languages was great, the dungeon had a fantastic pay off and there was absolutely nothing to find fault with in what he was doing. KD’s set had a superb structure and his delivery was note perfect. He tied much of what he said into the audience and this made sure that everyone was keeping up, as the next person he spoke to might have been them. This was a brilliant performance.

Debra Holt

Up and coming, Holt has improved further since I last saw her. She had more confidence and stagecraft than before – she dealt well with a brief interruption when someone without a ticket turned up and then hung about outside in eye line. Her material is now where she wants it with a lot of great stuff, such as take this long, the description of her car, risk assessment, Morris Dancer and the examination. I think it would benefit her to tie a bit more of her material into the audience, as that would help make it feel more of the here and now and it doesn’t need much more than name-checking a few people in the room who may be in a similar position to her. Either way, I enjoyed what I saw and on such a good bill, she did very well.

El Baldiniho

Wonderfully different, El Baldiniho was always going to be a winner at this gig. He made a flying start and never looked back. His wonderfully tongue in cheek jokes were delivered with panache and I think the running gag with the sweating was something that everyone massively enjoyed. There was absolutely bags of creativity evident in this performance and he reaped the reward in consistent big laughs. One guy looked like he was dying with laughter. This was a magnificent performance.

Tonight I was in Nottingham at the Juice Bar for Ian Whitcombe’s gig. This is a nice room, that whilst it has an unfortunate wall cutting some of the space out, is great for comedy. It also gets pretty full, which is always a bonus. Unfortunately it was Ian and Kerry’s last gig here, as following them moving to Scotland, they’re taking a backseat to promoting down here, which is a shame, as their gigs are always well run. They were seen out in fine style, though. It was nice to see Jam, Ben Davis and the birthday boy, Brent.

Ian Whitcombe (MC)

It’s always great to see an MC who has a residency and tonight he opened with a fair bit of energy and a nicely daft prop based singalong. This was good fun and got the energy moving in the room. The audience work found out some nice facts about people, especially Colin the barber on the front row and of Ian’s jokes, I really liked the non-runner gag. This was great.

Jack King

It’s always a pleasure to see King at work. He can write some great jokes, as well as a few that aren’t and when he’s curated the winners he will have a strong ten on his hands. At his best, King’s jokes are rock solid. The teaching stuff was good, but I was especially impressed by home page. The see friends at a rally gives the wrong tone and the morally bankrupt part is spot on, but not that funny. King sells his material well and he’s got a delightful giggle that I find infectious.

Rachel Page

Page has some good stuff, but at the moment the structure isn’t quite where it could be. I have a strong suspicion that if she were to sit down with a pro comedian or a director and go through her set together, she’d be vastly improved, as the basic ideas are sound. There is a lot of room here for callbacks and other subtle changes. To start with, Page was the second teacher on the bill and this is something that will occur more often, so her having a quick line that can look ad-libbed would be a possible cracking opening line. Stickers is a great idea and there is space for a callback to this with the babysitting joke. Lego as a present – here a specific type of set could add to the basic premise. Lemsip, a facial expression could add emphasis to this. The kicking could perhaps feature a callback to the lady in the loo having to make a choice between keeping the door shut and keeping hold of the kicked object and not being able to see her, which could then callback to being a teacher and kids. This was a good performance that with a few changes could become so much more.

Fraser Ball

A great late addition to the bill, Ball is a solid act whose every man persona and very relatable material is incredibly easy to get onboard with. There’s nothing here that will alienate a room or that people will struggle to follow. He’s a good writer, has good timing and just needs to gig more to progress. When it came to talking about the personal cards on the wall, I thought that he had a chance to make a callback to his opening routine about women sending cards for the slightest reason and could have mentioned a card she’d sent to the dog.

Stuart Vincent Moore

It had been a while since I’d seen SVM and so I was very glad to see him on the bill. There was a lot to enjoy in his performance. Not many people are talking about Tamagochis and the dubious trader they knew was interesting with lots of potential, although the location could perhaps have been made more local to keep it topical to the room, as Pudsey probably meant very little to anyone there. The notion of changing class through food is a great idea and I think he could expand on this, particularly the one in, one out aspect and the confusion this would cause to the chap from Tunbridge Wells.

Kimmi Kaiy

I’ve been looking forward to seeing Kaiy for a while. She’s getting on a few gigs, has a very big social media presence and plays a canny online game. Kaiy is a new act and so she’s not yet obviously the act that she will become after more gigs. However, she’s doing a lot right. She looks confident on stage and has a good stage presence. She held the room well and also her delivery is above the average of someone so few gigs in – although I don’t think she quite sold the ‘I can’t talk about’ and then talks about bits that convincingly and so might perhaps cut them out to save time. At the moment, though, her material, unsurprisingly for a new act, requires attention. In fairness, it’s easier to work on material than to work on stage presence and so this isn’t a particularly bad thing. The majority of her material is on one topic and with anyone who concentrates mostly on one topic, if it’s not for a section of the room, then they’re lost. As someone who has more to them than this, I dare say she could write some broader based material. Another aspect was the darkness. I got the impression that she is a fan of dark humour and was trying a bit too hard to go in that direction without it yet coming off. However, with more experience and more writing, this will solve itself. Kaiy is a promising new act, who has a lot of positives, but as a new act is still a work in progress, but will get there and become a good act.

Matt Wheelwright

New to me, Wainwright’s material was intelligent, different and well delivered. Entomology, salsa and so on felt very fresh and worked all the better for it. It wouldn’t hurt him to hold the mic a touch lower, as it was obscuring his face a bit and so making it harder for the audience to form a connection to him. If he were to stretch on the Jesus line it would add some emphasis. This was a good performance.

Chris Richmond

Working very hard, Richmond has the discipline to do well. He began with some strong room work and I’d have been happy to see more of this and also more audience work at the top, as these play to his strengths. Chris has some nice ideas and his set flowed nicely with the impression that there was an experienced act present. The routine about the fight is an enjoyable one, although when I saw the first trial of it, he leaned more into the inner monologue and I feel that that really adds to what he is doing. The punchline to it surprisingly fell flat, as it deserved more and I don’t know if it was just this room, but it might need a touch of rewording to give it greater emphasis. As he spoke about feminism earlier there might be something here about equal opportunities. When he moved on to the exact person and the result it provided a nice closing part to that routine.

These are only open to non-pro acts and this year the categories and awards are:

The best performance of the year: £75 – split into three as I’ve had a dead heat.

Most improved act of the year: £25

Usually there is also a new act category, but this year although I’ve seen some very promising new acts, the only brand new act that knocked me out appears to have stopped gigging and so I’ve added the £25 from this to the best performance category. This act will remain nameless, as the odds are that someone will let me know that they are actually still gigging off and on and that would really complicate matters for me.

The prize money will be remitted through paypal, or in cash when I see the act or if our paths don’t cross, or I can pop a cheque in the post. I’m still not doing postal orders, as they were a bit of a pain when I did them ten years ago.

I have excluded pro acts because it is nice to give something to the up and coming acts who don’t (yet) earn a living through comedy. Past winners are also excluded from their winning category so as to give other acts a chance.

The awards are done in the run up to the festive period so that the winners have chance to get themselves something nice with the money in time for Christmas.

Best performance of the year: This is a three way tie between Chloe Reynolds, Harry Jenkins and Jules O’Brian. I’ve seen them all absolutely smash gigs and they are phenomenally talented people who will become pro acts. The total prize fund for this category is £75, so they get £25 each.

Honourable mentions: Alex Cahill,

Most improved act: Kate Robb who was already great, but just seems to have found an extra gear every time I’ve seen her. Kate wins £25

Honourable mentions, Chris Richmond, Stephen Catling

Previous winners include:

2024: The best performance of the year: Maxine Wade, Most improved act: Benny Shakes, New act: Stephen Hampton

2023: The best performance of the year: Dawn Bailey, Most improved act: Eddy Midgley, New act: Dan Driver

2022: The best performance of the year: Tal Davies, Most improved act:

Charlotte Cropper, New act: Jack McLean 

2021: The best performance of the year: Kevin Daniel, Most improved act:

Jacob Nussey, New act: Tegan Marlow 

2020: Funniest twitter feed: Tony Cowards, Youtube channel: Diane Spencer, Online show: Scott Bennett, Twitch performance: Laura Monmoth – note this has been the only year that pro acts were permitted, simply as so many had lost the majority of their livelihood that year.

2019: Best performance of the year: Mad Ron (Steve Lee), Most improved act: Donald Mackerel, New act of the year: Ellie Pollard,

2018: Best Performance: Lindsey Santoro, Most improved act: Jack Topher, New act: Doug Carter

2017: Funniest act: Simon Lomas, Most improved act: Jamie Hutchinson, Best performance: Stevie Gray

2016: Written comedy: Phil Pagett, Most improved act: Moses Ali Khan, Best Compere: Jim Bayes, Funniest act: Roger Swift

2015: Funniest act: Billy Lowther, Best Compere: Wayne Beese, Most improved act: Chris Giles

This has been a nice month for comedy. I’ve seen some great acts and been to some lovely gigs. It has been a bit of feast or famine with some nights having nothing on that worked for me and other nights having 3-4 gigs running, any of which I’d have been happy to take a ticket for.

As ever, acts that I could mention every time I see them, such as Carl Jones and Jules O’Brian are locked out to give others a chance to shine.

Acts that have impressed me the most:

Alex Cahill

I always enjoy seeing Cahill. There simply can’t be too many comedy magicians on the circuit, as they always bring something extra to a gig and stand out. I was especially excited to see him, as I knew that one of our party who was there goes nuts over magicians and so I was excited for her. Cahill had a fantastic gig. The magic worked flawlessly, but his patter and little visual gags seemed to be more on point. The joke and topper with the case both got big laughs. Cahill is excellent at audience psychology and it’s a joy to see him interacting with the room.

Roger Monkhouse

Monkhouse is consistently great on stage and it was easy to see why he was headlining. He opened with a great callback to Hollins’ appearance earlier and was very soon in full flow. Roger will work well in any room, but the demographic in Southwell particularly played to his strengths and it was no surprise to see him getting consistent big laughs. This was a performance that built up no end of momentum and closed the night on a high.

Sam Avery

Possibly better known for his touring shows and work on cruise ships and the like, Avery certainly deserves a higher profile on the circuit. His performance tonight was magnificent. He was extremely quick out of the blocks, racking up probably a dozen big laughs in the first minute with a mix of room work and short gags. From here he went into material and this was all excellent. His descriptions were vivid and he sold them well. There were many highlights, but a particular favourite was the very self aware running commentary on how a few jokes about the state of the country had gone down. This was a total joy to see. I don’t know if I’m more impressed by Sam’s construction of his set, which was superb, or his razor sharp mental reflexes, as whatever anyone in the audience said, he immediately had something very funny to say about it. This was a magnificent performance.

Honourable Mentions:

Calum Scouller, Dan Lythe, Jim Brown, Tom Ratcliffe,

Tonight I was in North Wingfield at The Shinnon for a fantastic gig. This is an amazing room for acts to play. It has a low ceiling, an enthusiastic audience and produces the sort of energy that you’d get in a sold out cellar in Edinburgh. Ian and Jo have really created something special here.

Carl Jones (MC)

Totally reliable and sure footed, Jones had a great time. He managed to get a lot out of everyone that he spoke to. My personal favourite conversation was upon him being told that a guy was on his third marriage, saying, ‘and as a surprise we’ve got the first two here…’ the chap replied with ‘good luck with that, the first one’s dead.’ The audience here love Carl and it’s always great to see him at work.

Jules O’Brian

An absolutely superb act, Jules controlled the room from the moment she set foot on the stage. We all know her material and delivery is great, including the stuff that was new to me. So, instead I’m going to talk about the seemingly little things that all add up. For a start, there are the subtle hand gestures that she made with her left hand. All of these helped to convey the mood of what she was saying. It’s possible that she’s not even aware that her left hand is doing this, but it’s a surprisingly powerful thing. There was also the shrewd use of Villa for a joke. At first I thought that Derby County or Forest might have hit home harder with local topicality, but instead, Villa is far enough away that no one is going to want to argue the toss by shouting out. There was also her intonation on certain words. These, like how James Cook will emphasise a particular syllable, all convey exactly what she is aiming for without her having to waste words explaining it. This was a great performance on so many levels.

Jim Brown

A confident presence, Brown was a welcome addition to the bill. He’s an intelligent writer and this set had no end of unexpected reveals which all hit home hard. It was a joy to see him wrong foot the audience so many times. A rather impressive piece of work came almost at the end of his performance. 35 seconds from the end, as he was about to wrap it up with a big joke. It was at this point that a lady in the audience became restless as she was getting desperate for the loo. Jim spoke to her, explained how long left there was and whilst this did halt his momentum, he got it back extremely well and closed his set on a high. This was some adept footwork on his part.

Sam Avery

Possibly better known for his touring shows and work on cruise ships and the like, Avery certainly deserves a higher profile on the circuit. His performance tonight was magnificent. He was extremely quick out of the blocks, racking up probably a dozen big laughs in the first minute with a mix of room work and short gags. From here he went into material and this was all excellent. His descriptions were vivid and he sold them well. There were many highlights, but a particular favourite was the very self aware running commentary on how a few jokes about the state of the country had gone down. This was a total joy to see. I don’t know if I’m more impressed by Sam’s construction of his set, which was superb, or his razor sharp mental reflexes, as whatever anyone in the audience said, he immediately had something very funny to say about it. This was a magnificent performance.