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Attempting to make it into the
final for a third year in a row was YouTube favourite and former SCOTY
Finalist The Wee Man was up
next. Skulking on stage dressed in his trade mark joggies and Burberry cap
The Wee Man embarked on a rant about how ‘skint’ he is despite his you
tube star status. Perhaps, like the Wee Man, the Kilmarnock audience have
trouble with their internet connections as it appeared a high percentage
of the audience were largely unfamiliar with Scotland’s favourite ned.
This fact meant that a lot of the punch lines didn’t hit their mark
tonight and many of the Wee Man’s cleverer lines went largely unrewarded.
Wade
McElwain is a Canadian comic living in London who qualifies for SCOTY
by laying claim to an Aberdonian Grandmother. Wade is by far the most
experienced comic in the entire competition having started his career in
1996. Wade is no stranger to competitions having previously been crowned
Yuk Yuk’s ‘Funniest New Comedian in Canada’ and ‘Best New
Stand-Up’ at the 2000 Canadian Comedy Awards but would the Scottish
audience be impressed? Yes,
they would. Wades experience working a crowd was clear and he very quickly
took the competition to a different level with tales of living in London,
fat kids and being fired via txt. The jokes came thick and fast and the
audience enjoyed Wade’s take on the Scottish way of life – doing
everything pissed. However, Wade did have time to ingratiate himself to
the audience as he considerably ran over his allocated time slot. The
feeling going into the first break was that it would take a lot to beat
Wade however there were still three acts to go... the pressure was well
and truly on.
The audience came back for the second half full of vivacity and the first
act on stage Andy Vaughan made
good use of their energy. Swaggering on stage, bottle of miller in-hand
Andy’s experience as a regular act on the Scottish comedy circuit was
apparent and he exuded confidence from the start. The audience enjoyed
Andy’s observations on student life and the homeless world cup and his
assured delivery meant that weaker gags bemoaning the anti-hero John
Smeaton were almost instantly forgiven. Andy
has learned from his mistakes in last year’s round of competitions and
has developed his on stage persona to suit his style of material finishing
the set off with his favourite joke as told to him by a comedy punter made
for a strong close.
In contrast to the evenings other
acts Jeff Brighton is a new kid on the block with tonight’s performance
being only his 7th gig. Instantly likeable Jeff fumbled his way
onto the stage talking the audience through where he would set his water
down and the best place to put the mic stand while claiming ‘it’s all
part of the act’. Once he arranged the stage Jeff shared his nerves and
lack of bowel control with the audience before launching into a routine
about the trials of coming from Girvan, shopping in Asda and trying to woo
unattractive Polish women. He further ingratiated himself to the audience
with an unflattering impersonation of his Mum before taking the
opportunity to point her out in the 3rd row. Jeff could be
compared to a young Peter Kay, however he has developed a style of
deconstructing his material much like the late great Chic Murray and can
at times pay too much homage to his idol. That said the audience adored
him and towards the end you could see that Jeff was really enjoying
himself as he realised that tonight he couldn’t put a foot wrong.
The last act and the evening’s
only female comic Kim Griffin kicked
off her set with a sharply aimed barb at Russell Brand before revealing
that she learned all she knows about sex by looking up her Barbie’s
skirt. Kim’s set is peppered with clever one liners unfortunately
tonight she let her nerves get the better of her fluffing more than one
punch line. Towards the end of her set Kim
relied heavily on local references to get the laughs; but her sassy
performance and crude view on life defiantly makes her one to watch out
for in this year’s gong show.
Mirroring last year’s line up we again have an
inexperienced act in the final as Jeff
Brighton was the night’s clear winner. Runner up and into the semi
finals was Wade McElwain
who just pipped Andy Vaughan.
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