Best Of The Fest

Arts Theatre
Thurs 22 March
until Sun 1 April


Mid-week gigs are an interesting one. Especially at a huge venue like the Arts Theatre, which just did not seem the right place for stand-up - probably because it was only half full. Dave Johns felt the fear; and ate it up. Actually all three of the comedians did the self-depreciating humour reflecting on their death on stage, although from where I was sitting, the laughs were continual across the three sets.

Dave Johns opened proceedings, slowly warming up the crowd with his jolly-old-man humour. Comparing terrorists with football teams (Al Qaeda and Chelsea Football club are the new golden boys of their respective scenes), Johns made some hilarious observational jokes and then brought on the jokes prompted by conversation with the audience - equally good.

It was Andrew Stanley who stole the show however. From start-to-finish, Stanley was side-splittingly hilarious, helped in the most part by the odd responses from audience members to his questions. He rolled with every slightly unexpected answer, made the mundane brilliant and probably went over his time-limit, such was the groove he was in. Very engaging, very funny and very relaxed yet quick off the mark, Stanley's set was a punch of good times. Eddie Ifft was not nearly as offensive as he advertised, nor as he thought he was. Or maybe it was the comedy that made me miss the offensive side of using babies as heroin mules. Ifft wasn't as on the mark as his intelligent humour suggests he can be, but some daft crowd interaction late in the set finished it off nicely.

Still, an excellent mid-week show, it must be a fantastic weekend show when the stalls are filled.

Steven Willimas