Gig review by Steve Bennett

From little seeds do mighty maple trees grow. Canada’s Just For Laugh festival is putting a toehold into the London comedy scene with a smallish event by its standards – and entering a crowded market to boot: Udderbelly is just coming down (though its London Wonderland sister remains) while the Greenwich and Ealing comedy festivals  arealso staged this month.

Some of the acts heading to Russell Square and its environs over the next ten days were showcased at the freshly built site yesterday, at what host Andrew Maxwell called a ‘daytime comedy extravaganza’ – light still pouring into the Spiegeltent venue at 7pm.

Half a dozen acts were showcased in the gala… though the time allocated was too scant for Colin Mochrie, who merely had to explain how his new show, Hyprov, works. Hypnotist Asad Mecci puts members of the audience under, then, in their uninhibited state, they take part in improv games, led by Whose Line Is It Anyway? stalwart Mochrie. Or at least he’s involved for ‘a limited time during the start of the run’, the programme states rather vaguely. Still, it sounds fun - though we have to take his word for it, as the teaser show didn’t have time for Mecci to do his stuff.

Not a problem for Piff The Magic Dragon, one of the bigger draws of the next ten days, thanks to his America’s Got Talent success, who clearly demonstrated why. You probably know his gimmicks by now: the dragon suit, the deadpan demeanour and magic’s most adorable assistant, chihuahua Mr Piffles. He has the technical ability, but the excellent gag is that he’s unimpressed with it, tacitly acknowledging the damage to social skills that all that practising does. Indeed the card trick he pulled off was both impressive and comically underplayed. 

As it turned out, there were as many magicians involved in this comedy festival launch than comedians, courtesy of 80 per cent of the Champions Of Magic show, who are in the 900-seat Logan Hall for a week, once festival headliner Jim Jefferies is done.

Stylish Alex McAleer demonstrated some slick but slightly familiar mentalism while Young & Strange performed an illusion on a budget – although Sam Strange’s repeated skewering of a cardboard box with Richard Young in was none the less impressive for that. Star of this show is  Fay Presto, who’s been in the business long enough to know what she’s doing. There’s nothing special about her patter, truth be told, but her close-up magic is positively jaw-dropping. How she achieved the rematerialisation of a wedding ring will have you scratching your head.

All this came after the comedy, opened by Keith Farnan who created a nice bit of spontaneity thanks to some banter with the sound technician, while a rant against the cowardly coves who choose to sit in the second row added a bit of frisson, too – although he’s way too nice a guy to genuinely rip into the undeserved. The only person that comes in for real flack is himself, the spirited Irish comic portraying himself as an uncultured bog-hopper compared to his erudite girlfriend.

Long based in India, since having cut his teeth on the London circuit, Papa CJ exploits the big things people know about the subcontinent – populous, colonial, home of the call centre – for some relatively easy laughs. But in a few short minutes he can hardly be expected to do depth. He sells his gags expertly, though, and goes down a storm tonight.

• Just For Laugh London runs until July 24. The website is here.

Review date: 15 Jul 2016
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett