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The night started with Dan Nightingale, a guy who performed as part of the Big Value Comedy Show at the Edinburgh festival in 2004. Despite being extremely witty and undoubtedly the funniest of the lot, Nightingale regularly had to prompt the audience for participation. It seems that us University of York students have a sadistic side, prompting this guy to conclude that the crowd’s plan was to ‘look at him ‘til he cried.’ You couldn’t blame him for making this assumption; in the face of mild interrogation, you would have been able to hear a pin drop. Nevertheless, Nightingale continued in full-swing, never letting the momentum drop while touching on subjects close to the student heart. A first class act was maintained from this guy in between each act.
Next up, a guy bearing more than a passing resemblance to Hitler came forward to a gracious round of applause. Mick Sergeant has been nominated for best sketch, variety or character act in the 2008 Chortle awards and performs a character act about a shipyard worker who lost his job and then the love of his life, Donna. Lee Fenwick (the man behind the act) is apparently becoming “a cult anti-hero on the Northern Comedy Circuit.” Fenwick’s act is supposed to be darkly humorous while touching on the growing occurrence of American self-help mentality. At times, I just couldn’t find him funny as he rambled on with his self-pity stories that made me more than a little uncomfortable. The exaggerated Geordie accent went some way to compensating for his awkward act but it wasn’t enough to get the audience fully on-board.
The second act was Alun Cochrane who in 2004 was nominated for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award. He then went on to be nominated for "Best Compère" and "Best Break-through Act" at the 2005 Chortle Awards. Although this act was very likeable with tales of fatherhood and a very laid-back delivery, the prevalence of angry-old-man stories made the act not close enough to home. Cochrane was on top form however when choosing subjects that University of York students could relate to. His fictional Guardian-endorsed ‘Book of things you can and can’t laugh at’ hit a decidedly middle-class note among the student audience. His laidback approach made for a rather slow start but as the crowd eased up, his effortless delivery made for some brilliant comic moments.
Whether or not the acts lived up to their ‘Edinburgh Festival’ status is debateable but the moments that touched base with the student crowd made up for some of the other shortcomings.
For updates on future comedy nights, check the YUSU website.
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