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1 September 2007
Scottish Comedian of the Year 2007 Heat 3
Maggie May's Glasgow 30 August
Dude where's my Dummy
I know that headline
doesn't make sense but it's 5 in the morning and I can't sleep.
First out the blocks
tonight was Andy Vaughan,
Scotland
’s only finalist in this year’s Chortle
Student Comedy Competition. Andy is becoming an old hand at delivering a
competition friendly routine filled with material ideally suited for a student
audience. Being first up can either be a gift or a curse, with Andy it was
neither, as he never seemed to step up to the plate, instead delivering seven
minutes that appeared like he was just going through the motions. When the
compere points out that the entire front row is from Germany, maybe it’s a
good idea try not to do too many of your Nazi jokes – not for the Germans sake
but the rest of the room did worry for them..
Nazi jokes, were they delivered by Lizzie Maran, would however have
been a blessing. I’d like to tell you what Lizzie’s routine was all about,
but I cannot remember. I’m not being lazy or slack. I just honestly can’t
remember. Why? Well Lizzie delivered an unemotional monologue that reminded me
of being stuck in a dull lecture hall at University. Trouble is her subject
matter if given a little more (or any) emotion could have been great. You could
tell that the class wanted to laugh, but she gave it in such a way that the
audience really didn’t care.
If energy was what was
required for this audience then Del Strain had MC2 by the
bucket load. Punchline after punchline was dealt out with gusto, charm and
cheek.
Del
has created a great onstage persona for himself
a kinda cross between a Ned a junkie and your lovable smart ass wee brother. You
can tell that he is at home on any size of stage. In
any of the other heats of this competition
Del
would have won, tonight he was unlucky to be up
against the acts still to come.
If
Del
’s energy and skill started the roller coaster
of laughs which followed then Dunk Franklin was the one to take full
advantage of it. Born in Kirkcaldy (we’ve seen his passport), living in
Glasgow
, but somehow with an English accent Dunk has a
website where he likes to show off that he can “do voices”. Thank god he
didn’t do any tonight. Dunk is in the same mould as Peter Kay, you know the
type – cuddly, lovable, parent friendly humour. That’s not a bad thing, his
easily crowd pleasing set went down very well tonight and would be ideal for
your typical weekend gig full of stags and hens.
After the break one of the competitions most experienced acts took to the
stage. Teddy has been on the go for 8 years. About 4 years ago he reached
the final of several
UK
wide competitions, he’s become a comedy
equivalent of the football journey man, but tonight he showed he was premier
league quality. A bit like Ole Gunner Solskjaer in 1999, knowing he only had 7
minutes to impress Teddy went out and told a wonderfully witty love story, which
was filled with self deprecation, arrogance, fear
and just a hint of gratuitous sex. The audience loved him and voted him the
winner at the end of the night.
If there was a prize for the most bizarre act then it would be won by Graham
Mackie. He is tall, plump, in his fifties, has a beard St Nicholas would be
proud of and wears shorts all the time and he is holding a vent dummy dressed as
a Ned. He’s the type of person you would tell your kids to keep away from, but
here’s the thing - he’s a teacher. Graham
is the worst ventriloquist in the world, his material tonight was awful. But oh
how the audience loved him. He came
onstage without a care in the world and stumbled his way through cock up after
cock up. Crap vaudeville at its finest.
Last up was tonight’s runner up Chris Forbes. He’s tall and
sleek with a polished if some what uninspiring routine. You can tell he wants to
be a cross between Bill Hicks and Billy Connolly but he has a long way to go. He
got plenty of laughs with his different take on well worn subjects like the
Glasgow
airport attacks and the
Iraq
war, but none of which were real belly achers.
He’s came a long way since last years competition but there is more work to be
done.
As is the case with all
our weekend gigs at Maggie May's, the comis and audience stayed in the club late
as ex Buff Club supremo Mark Robb and The Regal Club kicked off their excellent
funk fest.
Next heat Saturday 1st September, Maggie May's, Glasgow.
Videos here
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