London Comedy Night 2011

A few years ago I stumbled across the Amateur Transplants via their wonderful London Underground song (which is phenomenally rude - truly) and then a great concert just down the road from my office. So when they sent round one of their emails advertising the London Comedy Night 2011 I didn't hesitate to bag a couple of tickets; after all it promised to be a fun night out and all of the money raised was going directly to charity (in fact the James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer has some personal relevance to me so that was a bonus). Of course I didn't forget my sensible head when booking the tickets and made use of Theatre Monkey to make sure that I ordered some good seats!

So it was that we ended up in Row C with a prime view of the action and that was a great call. The whole show was anchored by a hairy Canadian guy called Craig Campbell and he did a fine job of warming us, the audience, up; even to the extent of handling a deranged heckler in one of the boxes. That was very surreal! OK it's fair to say that his routine of being amazed by the British got a little bit familiar but as an energetic compere he had what it takes. Each act got a rousing introduction and an equally enthusiastic departure; just what you need to keep the show rolling.

From here the line-up had some real highlights that had us in stitches. One of our favourites was Simon Evans with his nice line in sardonic wit, sharp asides and inability to move around the stage. In a way that's the mark of a professional and Jimeoin shared that skill. With what seemed like scant effort he could ramble on about cheddar cheese, making the bed and anything that came to mind; in the beginning he even managed to play the chair as strange as it sounds; that's talent. In a similar vein a young Josh Widdicombe served up some pretty solid stand-up with riffs on living in deepest Dorset and other low-key observations.

On the other hand some of the artists were really off-the-wall. Chris Cox came on as a mind-reader who can't read minds and that was really strange; after a while his act came together and Lenore became increasingly happy that she hadn't been the poor lady dragged up on stage and embarrassed! After this there was Frank Sanazi and he was so far beyond our expectations that it was hard not to laugh; imagine a suave Sinatra crossed with Hitler crooning show-tunes and you'll be half there I guess. Then we came to Kalki Hula Girl and her act was equally past comedy but what acrobatic skills! I'll never regard hoops in the same light again.

Finally, to round off the evening, Adam Kay from the Transplants came on and we knew that wherever the line happened to be it was about to be firmly crossed! Sadly Suman Biswas wasn't around (because he's decided to focus on his medical career for some reason!) but Adam had enough off-colour songs and skits in his notebook to make up for it. Part of the fun, really, was to try and identify the song that Adam was parodying the lyrics of and with Lady Gaga in there this wasn't just of historic interest. Of course the tube song made an appearance and then it was time to leave - via the collecting buckets of course. Very enjoyable!