Tonight I was in Sheffield at the New Barrack Tavern for the Funhouse comedy night. This gig was originally planned to take place the week before, but had been moved due to the England game and it was definitely worth waiting for. The room is very well set up by Kev and Steph and it was no surprise to see it so full. It was also nice to see people travelling to see Tom Wrigglesworth.
Ben Lund-Conlon (MC)
London based Lund-Conlon is on a bit of a mini tour and took this spot in as part of his time up here. He has a pleasant warm demeanour which helped the audience to warm to him pretty quickly. The surname joke was good and he did well to roll so well with the dad comment from the audience, as anytime a member of the public gets an applause break can risk pushing the show in a different direction. It was great to see the landlord, Kev, getting the audience to stand up to show their appreciation for Lund-Conlon. It might have perhaps been better for him not to refer to a handful of acts, though, as that made it sound like a small gig and the Buffy routine wasn’t perhaps punchy enough for the short compering section, but this aside, Lund-Conlon was a cosy host who held things together well.
Jordan Hardy
This was a promising set from a relatively new act. It was great to hear him opening with a solid ‘Now then.’ Hardy had a pleasing self-deprecating air to him and comments such as ‘You’ll see’ were used sparingly enough to work very well, without causing anyone to lose confidence in him. There were some good routines and lines here, such as Hull, weddings, mate’s rates and the topper on hit me, which was particularly strong. Hardy had a few umms and errs in his set, but if he were to film himself a few times and play it back, he would soon be able to iron these out. I’d have liked to have seen more.
Daniel Lythe
Lythe is becoming a solid act. It’s possible that tonight he’d have been a bit better off going on slightly later, due to his darker material, but in truth, that’s only a matter of degree, as he had a good gig.
Kevin McDonnell
McDonnell is a good writer who has a cracking sense of words and language.
Lauren Smith
Smith’s opening joke was nicely visual and was easy for the entire audience to enjoy. Steak bake was good, and disability has potential. She really built up momentum, though, over dating and in particular, top match. This was easily her strongest material. Smith has potential and if she were able to punch up some of her longer set ups, then she’ll become even better.
Tom Wrigglesworth
Wrigglesworth is an amazingly talented act and he closed the night on a high. I could happily listen to him read out a shopping list, such is his command of language and his sense of funny. There was some new material amongst his established routines and tea certainly has potential, even if it’s still very new. Probably the highlight of his set and the entire night, was an in-depth discussion with a chap sat on the front row about municipal waste collection and the three bin system. Tom could have easily taken the piss out of this person for how earnestly he had thought it through, but instead he achieved exactly the right balance. This was a belter of a performance.
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