"Ian Fox - he's no banana."

A rather good night tonight and off to a great start with a last-minute replacement comic in the form of posh lad Ian Fox.

Ian had some surreal new material (midget tossing and Womble bumming) which worked pretty well, in addition to his regular material about Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and Virgin trains. One highlight was the banter Ian had with grumpy Chad sat at the front, ending up with him asking if he'd ever been bummed in a comedy club. Full marks for including the word "bummed". Probably the best set I've seen Ian do, I think.

Second act of the night, fresh from the Munich Lonely Festival, were German futurist synth-rock trio Die Clatterschenkenfietermaus.

And fuck me sideways, it was hilarious from start to finish. They looked the part in their black polo-neck jumper, and started off with a Kraftwerk-style spoof song, "taken from our first album - The Tears of Your Child Are Enjoyable). The three comics were Ben Traynor and pals, and they then went on to perform quite possibly the funniest song I've ever heard - Run, Granny! Die Clatterschenkenfietermaus are coming! - which is all about them chasing your granny. "Ve are laughing at your granny, because she has fallen!" Utterly superb. The audience loved it and I hope to God Toby will bring them back (plug: I've booked them in for The Comedy Balloon on April 21st 2004). Can't wait!

Next on after the break was a comic who's played Malarkey's on several occasions, Mike Tombs.

Mike's humour was very much observational and very well done. He started off with some topical stuff (Christmas shopping) and went into a whole range of other material, with a relaxed, confident stage presence. A couple of the observations were a little too drawn out (such as the "have one yourself" gag) but on the whole the audience really went for it. A good, solid act.

Second of the two headliners tonight was Didsbury-based comedian Dave Williams.

Dave started off his set in standard Dave Williams style, bantering with the audience as he does when he comperes. He then went into his material about living in Didsbury (the beggars take Switch), interspersed with plenty of adlibs and banter. Other material ranged from posh football hooligans to shopping in the Arndale centre. It was all a bit chaotic, with plenty of wandering from the script, but that tends to be Dave's style. Good stuff all round.

See you next week.

Spider.