"My brother owns a string of brothels - he's a fanny magnate."

Alfie Joey Back to form with a mini-marathon night of comedy at the Malarkey on Tuesday, kicking off to a top start with the awesome Alfie Joey.

Alfie's main reason for being here was to preview his Edinburgh show - live from his car! He took four volunteers out to his car and did the set - I don't know what was in there, but it involved raffle tickets... He'll be back for the next couple of weeks performing it. For the rest of the punters he did a quick ten minutes of assorted material to warm the night up - a good start to a good night.

Neil McFarlane Second on, and first open spot of the night was Scottish comic Neil McFarlane.

Neil had some interesting material and it's certainly got potential, but for me the punchlines didn't quite come often enough. The ones that did come were a little bit hit and miss, but there were a few gems there. His presentation couldn't really be faulted; clear and confident.

I suppose following Alfie Joey isn't the easiest gig in the world but hats off to the man. Once the material is tightened up in a few places it'll be a pretty good set.

Patrick Forde Next on after Neil was open spot Patrick Forde.

Patrick struggled a little but did managed to raise a few laughs, usually with the sicker punchlines. It probably made it worse when he realised the audience weren't going for it - best thing to do is soldier on regardless and try not to make an issue of it. There was also too much reliance on hack punchlines like "Cheers... dad." There's potential there as there were a few decent punchlines, but probably a bit too much waffle at certain points. Does a quite good Eric Cartman impression, though.

Justin Moorhouse After the break was a last-minute surprise set from the mighty Justin Moorhouse.

Justin was trying a bit of new stuff out tonight, including the story about him and Dave Spikey being involved in a car crash.

Justin is one of those comedians who could talk about wallpaper and it would be funny. So lo and behold, he was as funny as fuck. And it was all the better because he just popped in for a few jars and ended up on the stage. In fact, I can't remember when he actually booked Justin! Nice one, son.

Steph Davies Next onto the stage was the lovely Steph Davies.

Steph probably had her best gig yet at Malarkey, with some new material as well. Probably because as she's done more and more gigs she's started to overcome her nerves to some extent. It was a quick five minute set and was probably just enough. Looking forward to seeing her act develop over the next few months or so.

Main support of the night was Malarkey veteran Susan Vale.

Susan Vale Susan had the best gig I've seen her do yet, mainly due to the addition of some new material. She is a prolific writer and should come up with more stuff for her set because there's some quality gags in there, and the sick ones in particular won some excellent groans of disgust and guilty laughter from the crowd.

Obvious highlight of set was the dance routine at the end (see picture). It was the first time Susan tried it as she didn't know if it would work - gets the thumbs up from me at any rate.

Vladimir McTavish Headline act of the night was a debut from Scottish act Vladimir McTavish.

A faster, more aggressive version of Billy Connolly? Possibly. Anecdotes and observations came thick and fast from Mr McTavish. The bit about the Irish was particularly good, the concept of orange bowler-hatted sheep being surreal but funny. The alcohol stuff was hilarious (struck a few chords, too...)

The good thing about the set was that it seemed to gather momentum and get funnier as it went on, partly due to great material, partly due to Vlad's energetic stage presence. He'll be back, I'll wager.

Great night all round! See you next week.

Spider.