Having previously taken over the Tower Bar to perform stand-up comedy, the University of Lincoln’s Comedy Society returned for the final time this year on Thursday, May 12th, bigger and better than before.
The society managed to rack up three awards at the Sports and Societies Awards Evening on Friday, April 23rd, including Best New Society and Society of the Year.
The night was hosted by Loz Whitaker, who did a great job of warming the crowd up and encouraging them to clap, cheer and stamp their feet to welcome new acts.
The first to take to the stage was a “hungover” Michael Hutchinson who spoke of writing stand-up, a moment with his mum when she said he should be grateful that he didn’t have to “constantly move his hair out of his eyes to see,” as well as controlling shopping trolleys.
Eddie Bye started his set talking of how he was bullied at school for his surname. While he appeared slightly unprepared, Bye pulled it together and went on to speak about memorial benches and how he wouldn’t want someone’s “sweaty arse” sitting on them.
Following on from Eddie was Billy Keable, who also proved to be a good act. He began by reeling off a number of chat-up lines, before speaking of his Disneyland expectations not living up to what he imagined as a “child put [his] hand on [his] dick.”
Other topics Keable covered included comparing Jesus to a book titled “100 Mile An Hour Dog” by Jeremy Strong, a fortune cookie he described as being “written by Rebecca Black” and his first experience with a cougar.
The final act of the first third was Joe Lawrence, who has been “nursing a chronic hula-hoop addiction” and even calculated a mathematic formula of putting hula hoops on your fingers and dipping them into salsa – something the audience particularly liked.
Lawrence went on to talk about how science on the television allowed nerds to go “wild,” how people “aggressively enjoy the weather” and how “being a vegetarian at a BBQ is like being a hamster at a gerbil party.”
Sam Chaplin began the second third with a joke which consisted of saying “Ewan McGregor” quite a lot. He then offered his setlist to a random volunteer who shouted out the notes throughout.
Sam went on to discuss how the chocolate rabbits with bells on make a “good penis decoration,” his last birthday in which he identified with his last teenage poo and ended his set with a warning to any reviewers, reading out a suicide note he’d prepared in case of bad reviews. Thankfully he won’t have to go through with it.
Next to perform was Andrew Kingdom who spoke of how he took five attempts to pass his driving test, explaining how he failed each time. He continued by talking about how self-service stretchers wouldn’t work and how he didn’t want to be breathalysed by a police woman in case he got done for sexual harassment when she said: “blow, blow, blow.”
Joe Pepper was next on the stage, starting his set with an experience with a bunch of kids who taunted him for “not being able to pull a wheelie,” which has the Urban Dictionary definition of not being able to pull someone in a wheelchair. This was followed by a series of “you know you suck at like when…” jokes, such as his one and only chat-up line: “Get your coat, I’ve got a knife.”
Beginning his set with some toilet humour, Ross Ellis also talked about intellectual snobbery, doing an excellent impression of the head from Art Attack and telling the story about his conversation with a Martial Artist about the highest belt, the “Dragon Belt.”
The penultimate act of the night was Alex Halsall who told controversial one-liners about pushing blind women downstairs, masturbating over girlfriends, Auschwitz and how Rebecca Black’s Friday is “Mozart turning in his grave and auto-tuned.”
Last, but certainly not least, was comedy society president and co-founder, Ed Carfrae, who began with some audience interaction. His Russell Kane-esque style had Carfrae wondering why his Dad hasn’t accused him of being gay, especially after he got off with a man in a play and “tried to rape” his friend as he was “flat on the floor.”
Speaking after his performance, Carfrae described the night as “the best takeover yet.”
“It was lovely to go out with everyone involved, and I thoroughly enjoyed each performance. The atmosphere was great, the audience were lovely. How sickeningly brilliant,” he said.
Overall, the quality of the acts was to a great standard and was enjoyed by a packed-out Tower Bar.
The takeover was Carfrae’s last as part of the cCmedy Society as he graduates from University this year: “I’ve had a fantastic time at the Comedy Society. They’ve been great friends, and it’s been lovely to perform with some genuinely talented people.
“I’m really sad to be leaving, but I know they’ll keep it going and I think it can only get better from here on to be honest. I wish them the best of luck in the future, and keep coming to the shows!”
The next Comedy Society takeover of the Tower Bar is scheduled for the next academic year.