one4review | On 01, Dec 2015

If there has ever been any doubt that the comedy scene in Scotland is thriving then evenings like this should dispel any thoughts of this.

Virtually every Monday night in Edinburgh and Tuesday at the Glasgow club The Stand run their beginners comedy night where less experienced comics get a chance to show their talents in front of a packed out ‘real’ comedy club and for the audience there is usually a bonus of a more established act trying out new material along the way.

Monday 30 November saw me at the Edinburgh night where a standing room only room were introduced to a dozen acts by MC on the night Jamie Dalgleish and this amenable Glaswegian did a fine job in this often not so easy task. He mixed the opening with a whole raft of funny material interspersed with crowd work garnering information from the audience for the acts or himself to pick up later.

Opening act was Jay Miles and it was a pleasure to see him on the top of his game as usual. Miles has a likeable personality and a wicked sense of humour, coupled with funny material and wonderful comic timing. I loved his call-backs which developed particularly. His set was far too short for me and I think it would be good for him to ‘move up’ to the next level.

Hot on his heals was Craig Leiper, a relatively inexperienced in this business who after a slightly hesitant start settled down well and certainly won over the crowd. His self-deprecating material and laid back style showed huge potential and I look forward to his development.

Not every set goes well and unfortunately the next act Russell Moxall had a night he would like to erase from his memory. Better luck next time sir.

Chris Gribben, a Liverpudlian, now based in Scotland followed and wowed the enthusiastic audience for his allotted time. Not the biggest of guys but loaded with personality and a good array of material. I look forward to seeing him again, hopefully with more stage time.

Sian Davies hit the stage next for her set and this laid back lady with an uncomfortable, somewhat awkward stage persona certainly did herself no harm in her few minutes, gathering up laughs along the way. She has a style somewhat reminiscent to Eleanor Morton it will be interesting to track her progression.

Closing out section one was Stu Murphy in his other role, a stand-up, not the Improv expert, but let’s be honest Murphy is very good at both. His set was a rant about John Lewis store and their lack of customer service he encountered while waiting for the delivery of an order. Make no mistake Murphy delivered. It was a slick well written set and one that had the crowd belly laughing at his spleen venting. As always the consummate pro.

Opening section two, once Dalgleish had got everyone warmed up again, he introduced his auntie, yeah really, Jeannie Jones to entertain us. Ms Jones had an easy going persona, but backed this up with quite a lot of funnies. Like most she certainly did her reputation no harm in anyway.

Swiftly on her heels was Kitty Wood, who had been away from the comedy stage for a couple or more years, but returned to the spotlight like a duck to water. She, as usual had a well written and funny set, majoring on an anecdotal story, liberally peppered with very funny asides and usually self-deprecating gags. Her solid, all round performance was well received by everyone and I for one look forward to more.

Thomas Hind and his guitar followed and although he seemed a bit nervous initially settled in well with a mixture of comedy and comedy songs. His set was certainly interesting and had a number of laughs packed into his all too short time.

Ben Briggs was next to the stage and this slightly dark humoured Midlander certainly had both stage presence and confidence. He backed this up with a well-honed set of laughter packed material, working with his crowd as well as anyone. He is no beginner so I guess this was new material but if it was keep it Mr Briggs it all worked well … and it wasn’t oh so dark as you told us. Certainly I will look out for him again.

Closing out this section was a ten minutes set from the well-established Michael Fabbri. He was another trying out material especially for a radio show he has up and coming, but it went down well from the live perspective also. His own and others dyslexia was the main topic of performance but the observational stuff which was included certainly was amongst the highlights. Laughs freely came thick and fast throughout.

A final interval and prize draw preceded the final segment, the headliner delivered by Edinburgh based Aussie Ro Campbell. Having seen Campbell a number of times I know he is a quality act, but given the somewhat free form of the evening he was less structured with this longer set, but still just as funny. His anecdotal story involving an incident with Fabbri during the Edinburgh Fringe had howls of laughter emulating, but he got loads of others along the way.

With the time now reaching 11-30 pm, some three hours after start time Dalgleish closed down the evening, one that was certainly full of interest and superb value for money. For future events that are happening at The Stand be it ion Edinburgh, Glasgow or Newcastle check out the website on www.thestand.co.uk

Reviewed by Geoff