"Orifii - that's plural."

A top comedy marathon on Tuesday and starting off the night was affable song-meister Steve Shanyaski.

Steve's act was pretty much as it was back in July - a combination of observational and anecdotal material, and songs on the acoustic guitar. It has to be said that the songs are really where Steve's strength lies. That's not to say the material is bad, but it's not earth-shattering. That will come with time I suspect if the songs are anything to go by, especially the Stockport song (my particular favourite).

Next on, making his very first XS Malarkey appearance was Will Kaufman.

Will, aka Jim Twenlow, was doing his third ever gig and going off this performance the boy's got a big comedy future. Everything from observations to topical material, with a slightly surreal edge in parts, and some truly fantastic turns of phrase ("deft balloonery" and "Saddam Rocket Sock" for example). A laid-back, confident stage manner and some fairly decent impressions went to make up one of the best Malarkey debuts I've seen in a long time. The bastard!

Third on was Frog & Bucket compere and all-round banter king Dan Nightingale.

Dan immediately started off with some audience banter, including attempting to smoke a cigarette (he was giving up) and having to stop half way through due to the nicotine rush - the bit fucking jessie. Half way through the set was interrupted by a total fucking mad woman who wouldn't shut up and ended up getting on stage spouting insanities. Dan looked genuinely stunned! I resorted to going being the bar and using the mic there to say, "Get off, you're shit!" and Lee turned the spotlight off. Evetually she buggered off and Dan ended his set there and then as he couldn't really top the piss-taking he'd just handed out. Weird, but great fun.

After the break came a comic who played Malarkey's once before and stormed it, Matt Kirshen.

Matt had some truly brilliant material and great delivery and his youthful presence on stage endeared him to the crowd. Quite a bit of his material was about the fact he looks so young and there were some superb punchlines in there. What more can I say? Fantastic set, and he left to a deafening round of applause.

Next on was Bury comic Danny Deegan.

Straight from the word go, Danny launched into a verbal attack on the mad woman who interrupted Dan Nightingale's set as she STILL hadn't learned to shut the fuck up. After the initial banter he then went into various anecdotes, some involving his thick-as-fuck mate Rudgie. Top stuff all round, but then I'm a fan of anecdotal style material. Particularly impressive is Danny's take-no-prisoners delivery style on stage. Good work, son.

Headliner of the night, another debut at XS Malarkey, was American comic Sabrina Matthews.

In fact, it wasn't just a Malarkey debut it was a Manchester debut for Sabrina. A very slick performance with plenty of sharp gags in there, with a sarcastic edge to it, ranging from being a lesbian to Jesus freaks, September 11th and cats using microwaves. Plenty of cheers and chuckles, despite a tiring crowd.

See you next week.

Spider.