Tag Archives: Comedy Crate

Review – Gareth Mutch and Tom Stade, Comedy Crate Edinburgh Previews at the Museum, Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, 23rd June 2024

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With the inevitability of night following day and misadventure following Sunak, Edinburgh Previews come around again, as plucky comedians start girding their loins for the Greatest Show on Earth (well, the Greatest Show north of the border). A quick check of the Edinburgh Fringe website reveals over 1,350 comedy shows taking place there this summer, so it’s only right and proper that the Comedy Crate should bring some of them to our attention. And the first of these shows we were able to catch this year took place in the dignified surroundings of the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery.

Gareth Mutch and Tom Stade shared a preview night last year, so they clearly go together like Cheese and Onion. First up was Gareth Mutch, with a preview of his Edinburgh show for this year, Modern Man. Not sure what you think of when you think of “modern man”, but I think of a man with a progressive outlook, a firm feminist and not afraid to show his feelings. Gareth has followed the advice of some expert who described it as someone who “struggles with modern life”. Not sure I quite believe that.

No matter. Gareth has a hugely engaging stage persona; he’s a big chap with a bit of a gruff exterior but within a few seconds of seeing his act you realise he’s a true softy inside. He has some excellent material where he beautifully demonstrates his Beta Male qualities, with his inability to fix a boiler – he can’t even come to terms with the fact he has an airing cupboard. He also has a brilliant routine where he challenges audience members to decide what’s best: falling in love or being married? If you’re concerned about offending your other half with your reply, he has a very funny test to help you decide the right answer.

A preview show is precisely that; as Gareth said in his introduction, there may hopefully be parts of the show where the comedy soars, and there will doubtless be parts where it falls flat on it’s a*se. He started a sequence which involved a very dubious reference to shall we say a difficult subject – and it was met with stony – nay, shocked – silence from the crowd. Wisely, he decided instantly to drop it. Because Gareth comes across as such a likeable guy, suddenly to confront us with a very challenging and tough-to-find-humour-in subject was like a slap in the face. But a Preview Show is a learning curve – that’s what it’s all about. There’s definitely plenty to look forward to in Modern Man, and Gareth’s stage confidence and delivery skills are a sheer delight to witness. He’s on at The Stand Comedy Club 2 at 18:50 every night from July 31 – Aug 25 except August 12th, and you can book tickets here.

After the interval we were treated to the whirlwind of comedy dynamite (yes, I know that’s a mixed metaphor) that is Tom Stade, with a Preview of his new Edinburgh show, Risky Business. An hour spent in the company of Tom Stade is a rollercoaster of a white knuckle ride, and you genuinely can’t guess in which direction he’ll go next. We started off in fairly familiar Stade territory with an assessment of the average ages of audience members, and how language can (does) mean different things to different age groups. He has some great material about how the prevalence of computers in the lives of the twenty-somethings and younger is so ingrown that it can lead to severe misunderstandings, and, if you’re as mischievous as Mr Stade, can become delightful weapons in the war of comedy.

I loved his observations about modern travel, and how travel agents are redundant if you know someone young enough to work their way around a computer; and how his perfect holiday must include a waterpark. Another observation that rang true is how there’s only one thing that Mr and Mrs Stade want to go when they go to bed – scroll. And he has a brilliant slant on that old favourite, Mr Potato Head. Trying to review or even encapsulate much of what passes in a Tom Stade set is an impossible task because all his nuggets – big or small – just wash over you and you simply can’t keep track of what he says. You only hope that he can! You always feel that there’s an element of danger in what might happen on stage when he’s on; it gives an intangible edge to the whole proceedings. Wonderfully funny as always; even though this show was still at the let’s chuck ideas in the air and see where they land stage, you just know his new Edinburgh show will be a winner. You can catch Tom at The Stand Comedy Club 1 at 20:15 every night from July 31 – Aug 25 except August 12th, and you can book tickets here.

Many more Edinburgh Previews to come: our next date is to see Scott Bennett and Sara Barron at the Lamplighter on July 8th.

Review – The Comedy Crate and Castle Comedy present Comedy at the Abbey, Delapre Abbey, Northampton, 17th May 2024

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So here’s a new comedy initiative, courtesy of those nice people at the Comedy Crate (and I am sure nice people at Bedford’s Castle Comedy also), an impressive comedy line up under the sky in the beautiful grounds of Northampton’s Delapre Abbey. What could be finer than a warm blue sky gently twinkling its stars as comedy stars also twinkle on the stage? And even if there is the occasional raindrop or the odd attack by a plethora of flying bugs attracted by the lights, who cares?!

An abbey, you ask? Were we entertained by a group of Cistercian monks? Not quite. Our host for the evening was the bright and happy Paul Revill, whose main task it was to keep everything on track and get to know a few of the front row punters at the same time. No mean feat that, as the open-air aspect of the show meant there was naturally more of a distance between us and them. Nevertheless, Mr R did a great job and was slowly able to reveal that the audience was, in fact, a secret collective from Northampton Council, covering bins, resettlement housing, property maintenance… you name it, we covered it.

First up, and someone whom we haven’t seen live for nine years, was the splendid Zoe Lyons, a truly adroit performer who mines excellent laughs from recognisable mundane aspects of daily life. She has brilliant routines about living with a seventeen year old Jack Russell – you could almost smell the little devil from your seat from her descriptions – and what happens when a bunch of menopausal women go sea swimming in Brighton. She sets up an excellent rapport with the audience, was extremely funny throughout and was a perfect start to the night.

Next, and someone we’ve seen several times before, was Nathan Caton, a naturally funny guy who gives us a different slice of life as a newlywed still suffering from the costs of his extravagant wedding, and how he is (in his words) a mummy’s boy and soft as sh*t despite his height and imposing appearance. No friend of Gen-Z types, so it was fortunate there weren’t any in. He had the best joke of the night – involving his reasoning behind why he can no longer take porn seriously. He has a fluid, assured delivery and elicits some huge belly laughs. Always a pleasure to watch him at work.

Our headliner, and someone we last saw live fourteen years ago (yikes!) was Gary Delaney – a master of the one-liner and a comedy stage presence to die for. With him it’s a never ending stream of gem after gem, sometimes at a speed that takes your breath away. Mr D seemed to enjoy his set – appreciating how quickly we were getting the punchlines before he’d delivered them! He was thrown by two unexpected heckles: one from one of the aforementioned flying bugs that seemed to go for his jugular, and by an audience member pointing out the moon to his friend. I think it was the first time Mr D had been upstaged by a celestial being – but to be fair to the audience member, the moon was doing some really weird things that night! There aren’t many clean jokes in Gary Delaney’s repertoire – but there are some extremely filthy ones! And he kept us fully entertained long into the night. Great stuff!

A highly enjoyable evening – let’s hope they do it again sometime!

Review – Mixed Bill Comedy Megashow, Comedy Crate at the Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 13th April 2024

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What’s that phrase about little acorns and big oaks? It was seven years ago when we attended our first Comedy Crate Weekender, held in local Northampton pubs; even then they were getting top quality acts to perform. Now they’ve really hit the big time with two big shows over two nights – Friday at the Milton Keynes Theatre (in collaboration with the Comedy Cow team) and now Saturday in the imposing Derngate auditorium, where most of its 1500 capacity seats were sold. And what a night it was…

Our host for the evening was the deceptively hilarious Boothby Graffoe – I say deceptively, because he comes on stage like he’s dressed for a night in front of the telly, and you ask yourself if this chap is ready for the job ahead – and boy, is he ready. Fantastically self-deprecating, he mines brilliant humour out of his guitar and mouth organ without ever overdoing it; he’ll offer us half a song and leave it hanging with lyrics that deliberately finish early because there’s nowhere else to go with them, and it’s simply side-splitting. He’s adapted one of Tom Lehrer’s patter songs listing loads of countries rattled off at tremendous speed – and then tops it off with a devastating final line; and even his parting words at the end of the show about where you could follow him had us in hysterics. Great work, Mr G.

First out was Marcus Brigstocke; I’ve always loved his comedy, but the last time I saw him he threw a Babybel at me – it was at his Cheese and Whine show at the Edinburgh Fringe and I guess I just whined too much. No matter, all is forgiven, and he gave us a great set featuring concerns about the Royal Family, the difference between news coverage now and in The Good Old Days, and a truly hilarious segment about asking idiots to comment on current affairs: watch out, The Jeremy Vine Show. Packed with terrific observations and quite a few funny voices, it’s intelligent, powerful, thought-provoking comedy that lands every time. A superb start to the night.

Next up was Josie Long, whose Tender show we saw four years ago on tour, a winning and hilarious look at pregnancy and motherhood, mixed with some irresistible left-wing lambasts. Now, she’s still offering comic observations of family life with some very clever and recognisable set-ups. Her wry, quieter style of comedy possibly suits a more intimate environment than the vast Derngate stage and didn’t lead to quite the same level of belly-laughter that the others achieved. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable set with plenty of great lines.

Our mega-headliner was Omid Djalili, whom we’ve seen many times and never fails to delight. The man irradiates stage presence and had us in the palm of his hand within seconds. He has an unerring ability to lead you up a garden path with a story only to whip it around and take you somewhere completely different. Great use of his own physicality, with his fantastic ear for accents and the power of intonation; but what also comes across is his essential kindness, nowhere seen more clearly than in his valedictory observations about the humour of the late Barry Cryer and Sean Lock. He’s not afraid to tackle very serious subjects head-on; at least twice he discussed with appropriate sobriety the appalling killing that’s taking place in Israel and Gaza, but even then he manages to rein it back and cloak it in a comedy setting, without comprising either the seriousness of the situation or the humour. A truly skilful comedian, and he sent us all home with an uplifted spring in our step.

A great night of comedy. Nice people at the Comedy Crate, can we do it again please?

Review – Comedy Crate at the Charles Bradlaugh, Northampton, 14th March 2024

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Another great fun night at the Charles Bradlaugh Northampton courtesy of those nice people at the Comedy Crate. You can tell the gig is going well because the show had been sold out for quite some time, and the vibe amongst the audience is always excited and fully confident of a good night ahead.

Our host for the evening was the excellent Will Duggan, who hits the ground running with his cheeky repartee and is a master of the audience-based callback. Any material he gathers from the front few rows at the beginning of the evening will inevitably return with a smart comic twist at some point later on. He got to know (as did we all, by association) Sarah the blood machine seller, Amabel whose parents couldn’t spell Annabel, and Kempton and Michael the roving school caretakers. Mr D kept the evening moving at a cracking pace and it was always a pleasure to enjoy his entr’actes.

First up was Mark Bittlestone; at first I thought he was new to us but I remembered seeing him four years ago doing a work in progress show at the Leicester Comedy Festival with comedy partner Haydn Jenkins, and they were a very entertaining combo. Mark appears to be doing more solo work now and he has a very assured and fluid style, but his only subject material was his sexuality, and after a while you rather wish he could move on and talk about something else! He occasionally adopts a strange accent (I think to suggest sarcasm) that personally I found rather alienating. That said, he had plenty of good material – the Yorkshire porn star routine is hilarious – and a warm connection with the audience, and he gave us an enjoyable start to the evening.

Next came Don Biswas, whom we saw at the Edinburgh Fringe last year; he wastes no time in explaining about his dyspraxia, autism and ADHD, all of which he uses wisely in creating some blisteringly funny observations and beautifully delivered one-liners. Through his comedy he really allows us to see inside his world, from his anger at world politics to his frustrations at still living at home aged 39. His winning persona is always upbeat and he builds a terrific rapport with the audience. As the young people of today might say – nailed it, mate.

Our headliner was Jen Brister, whom I was surprised to realise we haven’t seen since 2013, and she has grown into a complete superstar in the art of stand-up. Like Don Biswas before her, you see directly into her life, with superbly recognisable accounts of a 49-year-old woman’s experiences, and brilliant observations about getting older, and the ignominies and horrors of the menopause. All this to put up with, but she can’t quite yet cope with having to wear varifocals. We all laughed our heads off all the time she was on. It was one of those comedy sets where you go home feeling you have a better understanding of the human condition – and loads of laughs got you there.

Rob Auton at the Bradlaugh next week – we can’t go, but you should!

Review – Comedy Crate Thursday Night at the Charles Bradlaugh, Northampton, 8th February 2024

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It’s another regular Thursday night at the Bradlaugh and a full house to boot, which always oomphs the atmosphere up a bit. For this month’s extravaganza those nice people at the Comedy Crate booked a terrific line up of comedians, two of which we’d seen before and two whose faces were as fresh as daisies (to us, anyway.)

Our host for the evening was Tom Toal, whom we last saw in the very same venue eleven months ago providing the very same service! And he’s a true master of the art. As well as getting to know key members of the audience, such as the two M&S food auditors (nice work if you can get it), reticent front row James, pirate Tariq and university lecturer Marco, he also told us about his unexpected new best friend and the joys of seeing women’s football at Charlton Athletic. A very safe pair of hands, he kept the evening moving at an excellent pace and contributed much more to our enjoyment than your average MC.

We hit the ground running on a total high with our first act, Lindsey Santoro, who never fails to delight with her bold but completely recognisable material. She’s one of those comedians who tackles those areas where angels fear to tread – why she is a failed lesbian, everything you wanted to know about breast feeding but were afraid to ask, and ending with a riotous sequence about smear tests. Her great trick is to appeal directly to the women in the audience with her choice of topics, whilst never alienating the men because it’s all so understandable and relatable. She has an immensely likeable stage presence and kicked the night off like a dream.

Our second act, and new to us, was Jack Skipper; very well-known, I understand, in TikTok circles, which is something of which I know nothing. He has a great story about being recognised from his online work whilst doing his old day job of carpet fitting – one of the best in Croydon and its environs, according to Trustpilot. He has an easy way about him and is very engaging with his entertaining material, including his plans to take revenge on his children in the future, and he’s excellent when relating the highs and lows of co-existing with his workmates. I thought that perhaps his set could have been a little more finely structured so that he ended it on a high; the last five minutes or so just slowed down to a gently ambling conclusion. But there’s a lot of great material there.

Our headliner, and also new to us, was Dan Tiernan; and if you enjoy your comedy with a laid back, relaxed, sophisticated style, Dan’s not your man. He’s dyspraxic, and not afraid to exploit it for every possible comedic opportunity. As a result, he spends most of his time on stage thumping and jumping around like a naughty ten-year-old who’s had way too much sugar before bedtime; but it does also make you think that maybe that imaginary ten-year-old isn’t really naughty – he has dyspraxia. Lurking behind that frenetic exterior is a wealth of fantastic material and some of his lines are absolute killers – I especially liked his explanation for why watching porn has ruined him. He doesn’t appeal to everyone, but if you like his style, you’ll love his act.

Plenty more Comedy Crate gigs coming up in the next few weeks – sadly, we can’t manage some of them but we’re looking forward to the next Bradlaugh night on 14th March!

Review – Comedy Crate at the Charles Bradlaugh, Northampton, 11th January 2024

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It’s a welcome back to the Comedy Crate for their first gig of the new year at the Charles Bradlaugh. January is seen as an iffy month for comedy, but there was an almost full house of comedy-goers itching for their first show of the year. We had seen all the acts before but knew them to be top quality – as the evening proved.

Our host was the Pride of Northampton, Pete Teckman, who got us warmed up by discovering comedy nuggets from the crowd, including the front row newbies who looked far too young to be married 22 years and to have six children. We also met the man who kept introducing his friends as his family, and Jordan who tags along with couple George and Jodie, but they all seem happy with the arrangement. There was also Chris, who might get a proposal from his girlfriend this leap year but isn’t sure if he wanted the government to be involved. As Pete pointed out, they never come and make a bedroom inspection afterwards.

First up was Rachel Fairburn, whom we’d last seen inducing a medical emergency with material about serial killers at a Screaming Blue Murder night. Fortunately Ms Fairburn left that routine out, and instead treated us to some excellent material about the complexities of being working class with middle class friends, the pros and cons of Oliver Bonas and a fantasy throuple with an ex-Home Secretary and a BBC Sports Presenter. She has a sharp, perceptive presence on stage and delivers her material with an engaging perkiness and lovely timing. A great start to the evening.

Next up was the gently neurotic Jamie D’Souza, a man of eclectic heritage with a very nicely underplayed style. He’s delightfully self-deprecating, with tales of sharing a house with his gay housemate and his relationship with his girlfriend – that’s Jamie’s relationship, not his housemate’s – bringing out seemingly insignificant moments and making great comedy material out of them. I also really like his deliberate and careful use of language that sets you up to expect one thing, then delivers another. Clearly a very funny man.

Our headliner was Aurie Styla, who burst onto the comic scene as an “internet viral sensation” about seven years ago and has gone from strength to strength with his confident, engaging presence and relatable material. He talks about his current transatlantic relationship with his New York based girlfriend, who wonders if they should settle in Luton – and there are too many reasons why this is not a good idea, as Mr S explains. He also has some great material about what life is like as a comic on a cruise ship – and the Comedy Crate crowd is the perfect age group to appreciate that! He sets up a great rapport with the audience and his energy never falters throughout his act. A fitting end to a superb night of comedy.

The next comedy night at the Bradlaugh is a Work in Progress show with Jessica Fostekew, and it’s been ten years since we last saw her, so that should be great!

Review – Christmas Comedy Crate at the Charles Bradlaugh, Northampton, 21st December 2023

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Christmas Comedy Crate gigs are like buses – you don’t get any all year round and then two come along within a week of each other! A super packed house at the Charles Bradlaugh had a brilliant night of it with not four but five funny people to send us into the Festive Season with thoroughly tickled ribs.

Our MC for the night was Paul Revill, and he is totally ace at the job. He has a warm and reassuring style that lulls you into telling him all the things he wants to know and then turns them around into fantastic comedy. Poor 18-year-old Seb was centre front row and found himself the subject of a lot of attention; and I loved Paul’s comedic response to discovering that an audience member worked for Specsavers. Whether it’s comparing favourite Quality Streets or deciding which part of the body will give the love, he keeps the whole thing moving at a cracking pace and made us all feel completely at home.

Our first act was Josh Pugh, always an unpredictable, sparky comic presence, with a lovely sense of the ridiculous and a misleadingly accomplished delivery. He has great material about being a new father, and excellent observations about the attitude progression from parent to grandparent – and everything he says is absolutely true. He sets up a great relationship with the audience and you know from the start you’re going to have a great time in his company. A superb way to start the evening.

A slightly different structure to this show, we then had two comedians after the first interval, and both were new to us. First up was Nuala Ryan, a slightly more mature pocket rocket of a comedian, with an appealing likeable presence and some good material about relationships as you grow older – or the lack of them. Thoroughly entertaining and lots to laugh at!

Next was Jin Hao Li, a remarkable new find in the comedy world; a young man with a softly surreal approach to his material, incredibly quirky, deceptively benign and with the ability to twist a story in a totally unexpected direction at the turn of a hat. Unsettling at first, but once you get his drift, he’s completely hilarious.

Our headliner was Matt Richardson, who hits the ground running with a sequence of great comic material about married life and parenting. He has terrific routines about men dealing with tampons and no longer being able to decide for themselves what time they go to bed, and they’re hilarious in both their inventiveness and their accuracy. To be fair, he did give us quite a lot of the same material as the last time we saw him, but it’s so good it’s always worth a re-run!

Thanks to the Crate team for bringing so much comedy to Northampton and its environs, and we look forward to another jam-packed year of laughter in 2024!

Review – Christmas Comedy Crate at the Charles Bradlaugh, Northampton, 14th December 2023

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A packed house at the Bradlaugh yesterday saw a line-up that had changed over the weeks almost as frequently as we’ve had Prime Ministers, such is the world of live entertainment – you can never quite guarantee who you’ll be seeing! Nevertheless, the line-up looked extremely promising, as indeed it absolutely turned out to be.

Our host for the evening was local lad, Moulton’s own Ben Briggs, who loses no time trying to get to know the audience members. I think it’s fair to say he came up against some resistance with Dave, also from Moulton; but that was before any of us became acquainted with Ellie, who was shall we say not backward in coming forward. Both would feature quite a lot throughout the whole evening. It could have been worse – we might all have been from Newmarket (where Mr B proudly performed last week to several walkouts). There’s something about his faux-aggressive style that gets 90% of the crowd on his side but risks alienating the other 10%; as a result, we probably went into the first act with a slight nervous edginess to the atmosphere.

That first act was the excellent Ian Smith, a down-to-earth chap with a lovely sense of the ridiculousness of life which he uses to create some great comedy observations. Goole’s finest, he filled us in with the art of spotting benefit fraud, the optimum positioning for hands-on-hips, the dangers of Blackpool hotel bedrooms and the lengths some people will go to in order to complain to the BBC. If you’d seen Ian’s previous appearances courtesy of the Comedy Crate, then all this material would have been familiar to you, but fortunately it’s all good enough to enjoy the reminder, and his delivery is always spot-on. An excellent start to the evening.

Second up, and the only act who was new to us, was Laura Smyth, and what a fantastic entertainer she is. Larger than life and full of attack, her material comes from the familiar environment of one’s extended family – in her case husband, mother and daughter – but with such a fresh slant and a delightful honesty. I loved her observations about the McCanns and the state of sexual relations with her husband after ten years of marriage. She can literally have you shaking with laughter. Brilliant content and fantastic delivery, she truly nailed it.

Our headliner was Thomas Green, whom we had seen at the Comedy Crate Weekender only five months ago where he had previewed his End of Daze tour. He has an almost iridescent presence on stage, a big bundle of Aussie enthusiasm who Tiggers his way around the crowd, pouncing on anything and everything that the audience throws at him. This included Kate, who travelled around Australia for a year, but it took two years; that delightful moment of insanity fuelled so much of his routine. He has such a quick and sharp comic brain, which allows him to insert prepared sequences into his current impromptu conversations with audience with amazing ease. Whether he’s surviving Australian spiders, or falling in love with the first British accent he hears only to discover he set the bar low, his material is always ecstatically funny and was also completely different from the routines he gave us last time he was in Northampton. Definitely one of the top comics in the UK today, and a terrific way to bring the night to a conclusion.

That’s Comedy Christmas Part One at the Bradlaugh completed; can’t wait till Part Two comes around next Thursday!

Review – Comedy Crate at V&B, Northampton, 5th December 2023

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The Comedy Crate took over the upstairs room at V&Bs yesterday for another cracking night of comedy in one of Northampton’s most upmarket venues! The layout and seating had improved from the last show back in October and the town’s comedy fans enjoyed a veritable feast of hilarity from start to finish with four cracking acts all on top form.

Our host, as in October, was local lad Pete Teckman, a jovial japester with an easy style, and a nice way of getting comedy gold from the audience, which this time included my father-in-law, Lord Prosecco, explaining the secret of his youth much to the embarrassment of Mrs Chrisparkle and myself. Pete got to know the marital ins and outs of a few of the punters, and I loved his unique take on connubial Wordle.

Our first act, and new to us, was Michelle Shaughnessy, a smart talking cookie from Toronto, coping with a long-distance relationship, and offering brilliant observations about stalking her husband and some blistering couple of lines about landing strip lady gardens. At some point during her routine she twigged that the average age of the V&B audience definitely falls on the mature side, and she nicely tweaked her material to suit us. Confident, ascerbic and very funny, she was a great start to the evening.

Next up, and also new to us, was Kent Cameron, a massive scary deep-voiced pale Scottish ginger, who’s obviously as soft as cottage cheese, and he plays on that juxtaposition between appearance and content absolutely beautifully. He sets up a brilliant rapport with the crowd and we all loved him. He has terrific material – which sounds like it should be challenging but is truly good-natured – about his acromegaly, a form of gigantism. And he finished his set with one of the funniest sequences of stand-up I’ve ever heard, his account of being on the receiving end of a colonoscopy – something that the average age of the audience meant we all knew a lot about. A fantastic new find.

Our headliner, and someone we’ve seen many times, was the irrepressible Roger Monkhouse, with his superbly structured comedy of middle-aged ennui, disdain of young people (not many of those in last night!) and delightfully unreasonable anger at the world in general. A self-confessed 58-year-old, his set was full of hilarious observations, framed by his wonderfully self-deprecating comic persona, and all beautifully delivered. He had us all in the palm of his hand – even if most of us were thinking he was a trifle on the young side.

One of those excellent comedy nights when everyone was a winner. The Comedy Crate return to V&B next year, but meanwhile I’m looking forward to their next show at the Charles Bradlaugh on 14th December!

Review – British Comedian of the Year Semi Final, The Comedy Crate at the Charles Bradlaugh, Northampton, 19th November 2023

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Once again the Comedy Crate put the laugh into Bradlaugh with another fun-filled evening of top quality comedy. And once again they host a round in the British Comedian of the Year – progressing from a heat last year to a semifinal this year – next year, surely, they’ve got to host the Final! There’s always a great vibe at the Bradlaugh for Comedy Crate nights, but for this show there was a tangible sense of occasion too; everyone was really up for a great night of comedy – and the eight contestant comedians rose to the challenge.

Our host, new to us, as were all but one of the acts, was Jake Steers, Hemel Hempstead’s finest export, and he had plenty to contend with; second-row Lee sending him a series of curveballs and the accountants’ night out in the front row not being the easiest bunch from whom to coax comedy gold. He explained the set up would be three comics then an interval, then another three, and an interval, and finally the last two comics and the voting. We could all download a QR code which would take us to an online voting form, where we could select our favourite two performers. Northampton’s comedy scene is nothing if not high tech.

The winner receives the numerically palindromic sum of £10,001, which I note hasn’t gone up with inflation. If I were this year’s winner, I’d complain. Each contestant gets approximately ten minutes to deliver their best short sharp routine, and despite the lineup being a little short on diversity (eight white men, but that’s no one’s fault) the variety of material and styles was truly impressive.

First up – and in a change to the advertised billing – was Currer Ball, a genial Glaswegian with a likeable personality and a confident manner, who based his routine on his girlfriend who doesn’t exist, and on the consequences of playing games, including an agonising round of Twister. Very good delivery, although some of his material didn’t quite land properly. Act Number 2 was Dean Coughlin, a Liverpudlian with a deceptively laid-back manner and presentation, who had the audience in fits of laughter many times during his short set, with a combination of excellent material and spot-on delivery.Act 3 was Michael Shafar, who has a more sophisticated and cosmopolitan air to him, and whose set revolved around his survival from testicular cancer and being Jewish. Some fairly hard-hitting jokes there, and you have to be right on top of your material to get away with holocaust humour, but he went down well with the audience and nailed most of it.

Act 4, and the only comedian we had seen before, was Mike Cox, who delivered a great, confident set about his domestic relationships; some fairly familiar subject matter but spun in a completely different direction which was absolutely brilliant.Act 5 was Stephen Cookson, a slightly more mature kind of guy who has a stock of one-liners and tends towards the absurd. He has a very warm approach to the audience though, and the one-liners that worked were fantastic. We won’t mention the ones that didn’t.Act 6 was Fred Ferenczi, a quietly spoken, dour chap whose humour is based on the difference between the persona he presents and his subject matter. He laments that he is from Aylesbury and slags it off mercilessly. It makes a change from comedians coming to Northampton and slagging our town off. However, I lived in and around Aylesbury for decades and it really isn’t that bad.

Act 7 was Garrie Grubb who has an excellent presence but never quite hit his stride; and when he suggested that some of the audience might be homophobic that was a bit of a turn-off for all of us. Northampton audiences are all sorts of things but homophobic is not one of them. Our final act was Dane Buckley, a fascinating mix of Indian, Irish and gay, with a sprightly delivery and some excellent and inventive material, including possibly the best joke of the night involving his coming out to his Indian grandmother.

We had five minutes to vote and the runner-up was Dean Coughlin and the winner Mike Cox. It was a fabulously entertaining evening and the audience clearly loved every minute of it. Good luck for Messrs Cox and Coughlin for the rest of the competition and commiserations to everyone else. Normally if you were to see a mixed bill of eight comedians you might expect to see at least one dud amongst them – but not last night. The standard was very high. If I were to choose a third placed comic it would be Dane Buckley – I think he was unlucky to have such high quality competition.

Our next Comedy Crate gig will be back at V&B’s bar on Tuesday 5th December. Should be another great night!