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5 September 2007
Scottish Comedian of the Year 2007 Heat 5
Aberdeen
In the world of Scottish
comedy
Aberdeen
is a long way away. It has its own circuit. Is
it as cosmopolitan or high quality as the central belt? Certainly
Aberdeen
has its own identity, its own language and its
own heroes, but best of all it has very friendly and supportive, if not overly
comedy literate, audiences.
Snafu was packed to the rafters. The show was billed to start at
8.30pm
however upon arrival 45 minutes earlier there was already a large queue
eager to enjoy the evening’s competition.
Being first up can often be
the worst spot in a competition, tonight it should have been the best spot. The
crowd were full of energy and enthusiasm from the start, whoever was first had a
great wave of laughter to surf. The
honour went to Duncan Guthrie, a proper droll, mans, man from
Scotland
’s North East. Dressed in faded denim jacket
you wouldn’t be surprised at the sight or sound of him if he stepped out of a
mucky Land Rover. Indeed that’s a stereotype he attempts to play up with jokes
about being a drunken crofter who has decided to take up comedy. It could be
argued that crofting is an old, mucky part time existence augmented by other
employment. Guthrie’s comedy is the same. Tonight started off well for him but
like his jacket it faded.
The energy levels returned with Tony Littler and his guitar.
Mancunian Tony enjoys scripted interaction with the crowd. He bounces on stage,
reels off a couple of crowd pleasing gags and then belts out a witty
misogynistic, mildly filthy, song parody, which was followed by some more gags
and another song, this time about (oh joy) paedophilia. Tony obviously has
decades of experience performing acoustic sets, his songs are wonderfully catchy
and clever if a tad over filthy.
Looking at her, the last person you’d expect filth from is Carly
Baker. She looks like the quintessential soccer mom – all big hair and
innocent smile. Butter shouldn’t melt in her mouth, but you bet she knows how
to oil things up. Why the crowd didn’t warm to her more I don’t know. Carly
is Texan, she’s lived in
Aberdeen
for several years, but her comedy is still very
American in style. It’s slick but lacks substance. There is a huge amount
potential for more personalised humour waiting to be told by Carly.
If Carly had big hair, then the next act’s was huge in that Mighty Boosh
/ Russel Brand kind of way – but there comparisons end. Phil Geddes has
been told he has a very unique sense of humour – that’s an odd thing for a
stand up. I don’t think his humour is unique, every stoner in the world has
thought his thoughts they just don’t get up on stage whilst stoned and tell us
them. It was car crash at its finest.
Andrew Learmonth
was the first act to really hit the kind of quality that might get you to the
final. His delivery is very well
paced, methodical and precise, whilst his material has been pared down to the
bare essentials of the joke. He’s not dead pan, but he’s not far off it. He
plays the awkward geeky card really well, one to watch.
Scott Forbes’ delivery is
neither paced, methodical nor precise – it’s brash. Scott effortlessly
commands the stage through his bulging personality and by erratically pacing
back and forth. He is a good story teller but his material is in no way
original, in fact it is hack (Ned seagulls!) and borders on being slightly
racist (mocking Aberstani
accents). Can you be “slightly” racist? The best thing that Scott can
do is to get out of his comedy comfort zone, go to Edinburgh or Glasgow and
watch and perform lots of comedy. Scott needs to do a lot of work with his
parochial / racially slanted material. If he doesn’t work hard, then things do
not bode well for his trip to the SCOTY Grand Final, when he will represent
Aberdeen
as this audience’s favourite comedian.
The second placed act was Gus
Tawse, a purveyor of finely crafted dead pan one liners. Unlike many dead
pan comedians you get the idea that this is Gus being exuberant. Technically Gus
was the best performer tonight. He has some class lines, two in particular about
a Paulo Natini and his adopted African child seeing snow for the first time. Gus
entered last year’s competition when he didn’t do well at all. The past
twelve months have seen him work hard compering, making his accent more
understandable and his allowing his material to focus on things away from the
North East. The fruits of his labours are beginning to pay off, he is now a
front runner for the best runner up spot in the final.
Closing the show was probably the best place for Martin Bearne. His
material is dark, continually dark, it only seems to consist of “then I raped
her” jokes. Which is a pity because he can deliver a good line. You wouldn’t
want to have to compete in the atmosphere created after this rapid torrent
humour.
Snafu is great venue with a lovely atmosphere, where the audience were
treated to a superb night of comedy. The long trip to
Aberdeen
was well worth it. Let’s hope we can say the
same for the winner’s trip down to the final.
You tube clips coming soon | 
