Barrel of laughs at Comedy Society gig

The University of Lincoln’s Comedy Society performed their inaugural stand-up show on Thursday, January 20th in front of a packed crowd at the Tower Bar.

Despite the show getting underway nearly 45 minutes late, the mood around the venue was very much anticipation rather than relief. Compering the event was Paul Sellar who by his own admission was there to “make the acts look good” but got noticeably better as the night went on.

His introduction was somewhat blighted by a nuisance of an audience member who seemed intent on ruining the event throughout the majority of the first half. He harshly quipped: “Is this comedy or shit?” to which Sellar suggested that hecklers should bring their own amplification system in order to be heard.

The first act of the night was Alex Halsall, an evidently nervous performer who claimed he was once accused of “stealing Christopher Lee’s voice”, and whose opening line was geniously gross – certainly too gross to be printed – yet incredibly suitable for the situation.

Following Halsall was musical-comedian Steve Hope but the acoustics or the atmosphere just didn’t seem appropriate for an act that you have to concentrate hard for – so it just wasn’t the right situation for his style.

Next up was Andrew Kingdom who told about his unfortunate experience with a wasps’ nest, followed by Michael Hutchinson whose set might be more suited to the Comedy Society’s forthcoming sketch show in April rather than an intimate stand-up gig.

The last act before the interval was Loz Whitaker, who confidently entertained the crowd with stories of urinal-based stage fright as well as phobias and pointed out the difficulties of being scared of breathing – an apparently genuine fear.

After the break Joe Lawrence’s set provided a summary of 2010 – the year in which The Queen got Facebook, to which Lawrence queried, “Has anyone poked Her Majesty yet?” – a question which that particularly tickled the audience.

The Facebook theme continued with Ross Ellis, who talked about something which we’re all culprits of – Facebook stalking. He proposed the “Unwritten Rules of Facebook” before finishing incredibly confidently with a story about his first sexual experience.

Ed Carfrae, who received a rapturous ovation when introduced, was the penultimate act of the evening. His set was extremely comfortable and unlike the other acts was more or less completely devised around audience interaction, which was incredibly refreshing to say the least.

Closing the show in hilarious fashion was Joey Falcon, whose Extra, Extra, Extra Hot Nando’s experience – in which he described himself as the Michael Collins to his friends’ Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – was delivered with impeccable timing. He described how his friend “looked like he had closed his face” after taking just one bite out of the dish.

Ed Carfrae, the Comedy Society’s President and co-founder, explained how he thought the event went: “It was so much fun. All the acts did absolutely above and beyond what I thought they would. The crowd really got into it too, except that heckler – he was in my house last night, that’s what’s annoying me!”

The expected nerves were apparent, but didn’t at all blight what was an extremely enjoyable evening, making the night a tremendous success to kickstart the Comedy Society’s live shows. Their next planned event is a sketch show, scheduled for sometime in April.