Review by Dave Ingram and Toby Hadoke.
Dave: He did well, although not personally really my cup of tea, very drama studenty. Heaps of performance skills though, and the crowd went for it. A nice start to the evening.
Toby: A great act to warm the night up, the ideal start. I didn't get to see it all but was mightily impressed by his movement skills which made for an original and enjoyable ten minutes.
IAIN WOODROW:
Dave: Probably the best gig I've seen Iain have. Got laughs from start to finish and nearly every gag got a nice response. They weren't really big laughs, but they were consistent throughout.
Toby: As good as I've seen him. Iain's material is absolutely top notch, with some fantastic observations and wordplay. I know Iain reads these reviews, but I'm not sucking up, I thought his material was consistently good throughout the set. My only caveat is to say that he needs to inspire the audience with more confidence in him. The only way to do this is with stage time, so doing the opens spots, the Balloons and the Beat The Frogs is absolutely the right way to do it. There are comedians with far less high quality material but bags more confidence doing far better than Iain - so big yourself up Iain, coz the material justifies a slightly more puffed chest!
Dave: Geoff was awesome, the best I've ever seen him. A great mix of topical material, sick gags and good old favourites (baby shaking anyone?). Geoff ripped it. The only negative I can think of is he finished on some newer material about public executions, and although it got a nice enough response, it didn't get the belly laughs and claps some of the earlier material had, which maybe would have been better to finish on. He was great though, had me pissing myself.
Toby: I've always liked Geoff, but the man was on bloody fire. Really near the knuckle stuff justifying its controversy by being sharply funny. Not the best ending perhaps, but possibly because the first ten minutes was utterly blistering stuff.
Dave: Des was Des. Consistent, solid and funny as fuck. Had some cracking new material, particularly the story about his wife being in hospital, a long story ending on an awesomely cheesy pun. Des stumbled over a couple of his gags, resulting in them not getting the laughs they usually get or deserve, but Des simply acknowledged he had messed the line up and kept the crowd firmly on his side. As good as ever.
Toby: I love Des. He constantly surprises me by the sheer volume of high quality new material he brings every time he does Malarkey. I also think he is the best comedian at making mistakes because his reaction to the cock-up is piss funny in the extreme, and lovable and endearing.
Dave: I didn't realise he was gay, it makes kissing him seem a bit weird now! Paul was great, a lovely mixture of gags, stories and puns. Nearly every punchline he had got a huge response, and had me and Danny Deegan crippled with a couple of bits (The 'I love Irish cock' still has me giggling). An expertly delivered set from the old pro, and he got the much deserved encore.
Toby: Great stuff - tackling being gay and Asian in an unpreachy and utterly engaging manner, thoughtful and intelligent material that was timed to perfection. And, it seems, another convert to Malarkey. He'll be back.
A good night from start to finish - hampered only by a lack of manners from three half witted students near the door. Still, I got to mouth "get out now" to one of them when she answered her mobile. Huzzah!
