CityLife

CityLife Comedian Of The Year: Heat 3

INTO round three with another fine line-up of acts and this week was to prove quite an eclectic one, too.

Malarkey’s resident compere and Dr Who expert Toby Hadoke got events off to a fine start displaying a quick wit with the crowd and the mischievous glint in his eye revealed itself fully later on in the form of a cheeky rant about Carol Vorderman.

Up first this week was Stephen Porter. Though a few gags were on familiar ground, his was a both charming and amusing set. Martin Tapley, too employed an old staple in his airline routine with the bulk of his time spent joking about travelling on easyJet, despite this there were some new twists on an old theme.

The confident figure of Chris Brooker rounded off the first section this week with tales of his work in a call centre; undoubtedly a crowd pleaser of a set and he was awarded with some applause breaks for his efforts.

Assured

Into the second and Rebecca Taylor opened proceedings displaying an assured and easy stage presence. Incorporating a couple of well thought out songs in her chatty set, it made for a lively eight minutes.

Mick McGrath wasn’t the slickest of acts. In fact, there was a crazed look in his eye throughout, but his material was amongst the most inventive in the competition so far.

Last up was Lee Fenwick and his pathos-imbued character Mick Sergeant, an unemployed ship builder trying his hand at stand up. It’s a sublimely subtle performance that the audience didn’t seem to know what to make of at first but by the time he’d shared his enthusiasm for Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman, they were won round.

The night closed with a set from former City Life Comedian of the Year Vince Atta, after which it was announced that Mick McGrath and Mick Sergeant would be  pressing their slacks in readiness for attending the final.

What did you think? Have your say.

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