"That's the good thing about tramps, they've got an accent you can't put your finger on..."

One of the longest nights at Malarkey's for a long time on Tuesday (more on that later), and off to a belting start with the self-styled world's worst stand-up, Mr Pineapple.

Mr Pineapple, aka Seymour Mace, had the crowd near the door pissing themselves laughing even before he got on stage. He was already in character while Toby was doing the intro, and took to the stage to reveal his unique shambolic brand of comedy (due to his "head injury"). He did the bit I wanted to see again, alternative lyrics to Get Off My Cloud by the Rolling Stones (see pics). Just brilliant. Seymour is one of those comics who you will not fail to laugh at even if you've seen his material before. I just wonder what the crowd who hadn't seen it before made of it!

Second act of the night was James Davies.

James did pretty well overall, but following the genius of Mr Pineapple was always going to be a tough job. We started off with a good analogy between John Leslie's is-he-isn't-he-guilty status and Wheel of Fortune, and had other topical bits and bobs. Sometimes he almost lapsed into Alan Partridgisms, whether by accident or not I'm not sure. There was quite a good bit on the comparison between the Manchester and Leicester music scenes (although a fairly obvious Mark Morrison Return of the Mac gag). Reminded me of Anthony Miller a bit. Pretty good set all round, I thought.

Next on, making his return to Malarkey's, was Phil Buckley.

Phil last played Malarkey's back in April and didn't really do that well, so I was fearing the worst. However, he's obviously been working on his material and delivery and had a great gig. A couple of the lines you could see coming (the difficulty in trying to punch sharks underwater, for example) but there were some belting lines in there (the one about the biking section of the triathlon in Salford was a beauty). Well done Phil.

After the break came a Malarkey debut for Ashley Frieze.

Ashley's material was a mixture of gags and songs on the acoustic guitar. I think it has to be said the songs are the strong point of the set. The material is okay, but some of the songs are great, It's Hard To Get A Wheelbarrow Through A Revolving Door for example, and the George and Zippy version of Hit Me Baby One More Time went down well with the crowd. Having seen Ashley a few times at the Comedy Balloon I can tell he's improving all the time so he'll be one to watch before long I reckon.

Main support act of the night was a comic who compered Malarkey's not so long ago when Toby was in Sherlock Holmes In Trouble, John Warburton.

John opened the set with a bit of banter with the crowd, a good way to get them on your side from the word go (if it works, that is). He then went into his material; everything from the environmental effects of not collecting conkers to personal injury specialists and Aldi sweet and sour chicken in a tin. I've heard a lot of the material before but I reckon it was probably the best performance from Warby I've seen yet. Stormed the gig, you might say. Spot on timing and a great stage presence.

Headliner of the night was a last minute change from Gavin Webster with top notch Manc comic Tony Burgess filling in.

Tony did the full repertoire of material and was obviously enjoying himself on the stage as he did over an hour, including a lengthy encore! An absolute shedload of audience banter mixed in with great material produced a storming set. It may have gone on a bit long though (it was 11:45pm when he finished) and I for one was knackered, but full marks for longevity on stage.

See you next week.

Spider.