"My hovercraft is full of eels."

Dave Purdy Another pretty decent night at the Malarkey and kicking off the show was one of the most helpful people on the comedy scene, Dave Purdy.

I'd not seen Dave do a gig for quite some time (in fact, the last time was November) so it was interesting to see how he'd perform. Amiable Dave started off with some excellent material about modern art. The line about Damien Hurst inability to paint was a winner (and got a well deserved round of applause from the crowd). There was social comment as well in the material about Job Centres - enough to make you think but plenty of gags to stop it Chris Brooker becoming boring. So a nice and concise seven minutes from Dave. Great stuff.

Next on was a comic from Nottingham, Chris Brooker.

The first five minutes or so of Chris' set was totally improvised as he 'invited' Nicola from the audience up on stage to do a Stars In Their Eyes-type impression of Marge Simpson. Quality.

The rest of the set was made up of actual material - surprise, surprise - which was also good. His delivery was spot-on and his bantering skills are obviously good John Emerson so I think future compering stints beckon for young Chris (I actually saw his first compering slot at the Comedy Balloon and very good it was too).

Another Malarkey debut next, this time for John Emmerson.

John's material was fairly good but took a while to get into the swing of things. However, as the set went on the punchlines increased in frequency, and although some were better than others, they pretty much all got a laugh. So not too bad a set all round really.

Scott Tyrrell Fourth onto the stage was poet and comedian Scott Tyrrell.

Scott had some fantastic material about CB radio and internet speak ("IANALBIPOOTV - I am not a lawyer but I play one on TV."), as well as some material taking the piss of the Noah's Ark story, which is a good thing. He finished off on a poem about feeling horny in the springtime, which sounded a little bit like Stuart Hall doing the post match report for a particularly exciting Man City game! Top stuff.

Arnold Bolt Next on, main support of the night, was circuit veteran Arnold Bolt.

Arnold did okay, but I really wish he'd write some new material! The existing stuff isn't bad (although some bits are better than others) but I've heard the set so many times now it's becoming difficult to think of interesting things to write! And his Smiths piss-take certainly won't earn any brownie points with me. Get writing, Arnold, I'm getting bored of Crapping In Mary-Lou's Barn.

Rob Deering Headliner of the night was an act from the Avalon stable, star of the TV programme 99 Things To Do Before You Die, Rob Deering.

Rob had the audience eating out of his hand from the word go, with an impressive stage manner and some great material. To accompany the gags, there were some spoof songs on the guitar as well, and the Queen Mother prop was particularly good. The only minus point - and it's a small one - is the cheesy cabaret-style delivery is just a touch too much at times, but other than that he's a top act. In fact he got a well deserved double encore where he performed some excellent James Bond spoof songs.

Good night all round, I think. See you next week.

Spider.