"Is there soup-based heckling going on over there?"

Another good night at the Malarkey on Tuesday and kicking off the show for the second week running, top class comic and bloody nice chap Alfie Joey took to the stage for ten minutes of assorted banter, followed by an invitation to four volunteers to join him in his car for his Edinburgh preview (Alfie Joey's Mini Cabaret).

Alfie's material (in Bar XS) was a mix of some of his old stuff, and a new anecdote and doing a gig in front of coppers - with hilarious consequences. Even though I'd heard some of the stuff not so long ago I still found it funny as his delivery is spot-on. I'm not sure how many weeks Alfie's doing his Edinburgh preview at XS but hopefully this won't be his last week.

Next on making her debut at XS Malarkey was Amy Elliot-Smith.

Amy's material clearly needs a bit of working on, but as it was only her second gig she did quite well. Her confidence was impressive for a new comic and when she's got some better material she could do well. The main problem with the material was that once an observation was made the point was laboured too much. Some of it was a bit hack (the differences between men and women, for example) but that's forgiveable for someone who's just starting out in the stand-up comedy game. Good luck with your new comedy career, Amy.

Third onto the Malarkey stage was the first of the Brummie quartet, Lawrence Inman.

It was an XS Malarkey debut for Lawrence and an impressive one it was too. Great delivery aided by confidence and the frankly hilarious Brummie accent. The material was good too, with anecdotes about Birmingham, and some clever punchlines which won the crowd over.

Lawrence's easy-going stage manner made the crowd sit up and listen which was no more than he deserved. There was quite a big cheer for him at the end so he was obviously a hit with the crowd. I'm sure he'll be back on stage at XS before too long.

Dan Smith was next on after the break.

Dan had his best gig yet at Malarkey's and part of the reason I think is that he's been doing compering in the last few months and consequently has improved his audience banter skills a lot. The material ranged from Cup-a-Soups to pressing old ladies' genitals, and even included a "poorly executed visual gag". Some great surreal material and a nice turn of phrase from young Dan. Well done that man.

Straight after Dan came fellow Brummie Karen Bayley.

Karen had a good gig as usual, with a lot of the old favourite material, such as pound shops and women's pants, but had one or two new things in there as well (at least I don't remember them anyway). She has a marvellous filthy quality and isn't afraid to talk about all things rude, which got some big laughs from the crowd. Nothing more to say really, a good set all round.

Headliner of the night was winner of the Weakest Link Comedians' Special Andy White.

Well what can I say? Andy was brilliant from start to finish, and more than capable of bantering with the crowd. There was quite a lot of new material in there, which was nice. The Morph material spoken in French was fantastic. Great punchlines and super delivery - you can't ask for more, really.

A top night at the Malarkey. See you next week.

Spider.