"My brother was a gaylord, my sister was obsessed with the moon..."

A great night of comedy at XS Malarkey on Tuesday (it's what we've come to expect) and kicking things off on the night was a new-ish comic from the local scene, Adam Bowman.

Adam's material ranged from scaring religious people who call at your house, Toby Studabaker (he's back in the news and a self-confessed reason for Adam to resurrect some old material), hen nights, sex tips in women's magazines and George W Bush, which featured a great line about not normally doing material about GWB: "It's a bit like tipping your granny out of a wheelchair - just too easy... and never as much fun as you think it's going to be." It was probably the best set I've seen Adam do yet - it's good to see new, local comics progress. A good start to the show.

Next was a debut for a London-based act, Isy Suttie.

Isy started off with a song on the guitar about Jamie Oliver which immediately won the audience over with its hatred of the fat-tongued mockney twat. And full marks for mentioning the word 'brine'. There was normal material as well as songs which got some good laughs from the crowd, helped along by her natural, lively stage presence. One of the finest moments of the set came in another song which sounded to me like an indirect piss-take of Victoria Wood and her 'cheeky' Northern comedy songs. Toby was suitably impressed: "It's the most brilliant critique of the stand-up comedy circuit I've ever seen."

Third on was a finalist in the City Life Comedian of the Year competition, and no stranger to Malarkey's, Chris Roche.

Chris started his set with tales of how he was one of the poor kids at school, then went into some Pop Idol material, with a particularly good gag about laminating a poster of Britney Spears (which earned a cheer and a smattering of applause from the audience). There was some new material about laser eye surgery and contact lenses which was good. Nice to see Chris writing new stuff - his material in general is very good, especially as he's going for probably less than a year. A good set all round from Chris - I suspect he'll be one to watch.

Main support of the night was Malarkey stalwart Kevin Precious.

For ages Kevin was one of those acts who had set material and pretty much stuck to it, which is fair enough, as the material is strong and always works well, but this time he introduced a few new bits, such as living in a bedsit, working in the porn industry and being working class, all of which worked well. Wouldn't mind seeing him compere a gig, in fact. He finished off the gig with his 'banker' material about being back at school where the headmaster ended the assembly on "an unfortunate note". Overall, he stormed the gig and went off to a massive round of applause. Good job, well done.

Headliner of the night was another comic who always does well at Malarkey's, Roger Monkhouse.

Roger delighted the crowd with tales of getting old, and took a few cheeky swiped at the students in the audience, and there was a particularly good bit when he explained about the time his son called him a "gay bender". After pointing out his son's double-negative error he was told it meant "gay squared". Class! His other material ranged from being arrested for carrying a Swiss army knife to being mistaken for an attempted murderer. Roger's stage manner isn't polished and slick but that's what so good about him. Some near-the-knuckle material topped off a great set from the balding comic.

Spider.