Stage @ AltLinc Comedy Club
Once again AltLinc ventured to the Zing comedy night, as they so frequently do on Mondays.
MC Anthony Miller kicked off the proceedings by warming up the crowd. His warm-up material earned a few ripples of laughter and appreciative smatterings of applause, but nothing particularly raucous. After five minutes of hit and miss japery, he invoked a round of applause from the audience as he invited the evenings first comic talent to take the stage.
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Stephanie Lane’s performance kicked off at a steady, consistent pace. She earned more than a few chuckles with her zany yet endearing portfolio of hand-dawn pictures of ducks in unusual places. This collection of bird-based sketches included a picture of a duck in a tree, which featured an accompanying story about how ducks, as a rule, do not belong in trees. It may sound bland when you put it in writing, but the full effect is much more potent when the visual element is there too. Also in her gallery was a picture of a duck using a photocopier and a duck in the shower – funny, but not spectacular.
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The evening proceeded at pretty much the same pace, with performances from four other comedians (including a trial run of new material by, organiser Ed Carfrae himself).
Kevin Mahon took the stage and everyone was a bit taken aback by his eccentric personality. A self-proclaimed “handsome, powerful and thrifty man”, he enjoyed a fairly successful set consisting of humorous anecdotes and musings on his moustache, cats and his pair of £1 trousers. He engaged in the evenings first bit of serious “audience participation” when he invited an audience member to feel the afore mentioned trousers, which merited quite a few laughs from the rest of the audience.
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Liam Mitchell was a very interesting act. He favoured dry, sometimes satirical, but nonetheless quite admirable opinions on everyday situations, as opposed to the running theme of anecdotal comedy. He talked about problems with dating, approaching women and life in general. It was akin to the comedic styling’s of Irish comic Dylan Moran, but not quite as unpredictable or poetic.
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The headliner was comedian Jay Sodagar. Definitely the most successful act of the night, his set started with some slightly self-deprecating material about his Indian heritage. He was quick to reassure anyone who felt uncomfortable however, as he then went on to explain his philosophy on racism and how racists themselves can be funny in their idiocy at times. The rest of his act consisted of political observations about the state of the Government, all interspersed with topical jokes. His performance was certainly very funny, but I felt the audience were not pushed into full-blown hysterics.
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