Student comedy awards 2006

Heat 4: Southampton

One of the most surprising aspects of Chortle’s nationwide hunt for student comedians is the confidence most of these fledgling acts exude. Perhaps it’s the naivety of youth, but almost every contestant has seemed utterly unfazed by the potentially terrifying prospect of making a room full of strangers laugh.

Nerves did claim the better of one of the acts at the well-attended heat in Southampton University last night, and he bolted from the stage less than two minutes into his set. He’ll remain nameless – no need to compound his suffering – but it brings home just how daunting an ordeal stand-up can be for a newbie, and underlines the achievement of those who overcome the jitters to at least give the impression of being in control on stage.

As well as acting the part, Richard Woolford looked it, too, with a quirky dress sense and Modish haircut. He’s that rarest, and unfashionable of acts: a prop comic… and it’s perhaps easy to see why this has fallen out of favour, because for every punny gag that succeeded, three or four didn’t. And it’s then that the bare bones approach, milking no obvious connection with the audience, leaves him very exposed. Mind you, the jokes that did work, worked well.

Callum Davies was quick to tell us he suffered attention-defecity hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but he seems to have found an ideal channel for that excess energy in a lively, assured performance. There are some good lines, too – plus a bit about the guy who does cinema voiceovers that’s been done to death by others. Not that Davies is likely to know that as this was, incredibly, only his second gig - even though he’s got on-stage confidence to burn. Give this guy a year and see what happens…

When Darren Richman took to the stage as Mr Headmaster, you are again hit by that ‘seen it before’ feeling, as his awkwardness and stuffy formality is instantly reminiscent of a character from the days Rowan Atkinson used to perform live. But Richman makes it his own, with adept writing and the misjudged attempts at talking street as he pays tribute to a dead pupil known as ‘The Gubbster’, among many punny sobriquets. It was a natural performance of a skilful script that won him a place in May’s final.

Tom Craine has cultivated a deliberately geek-chic look, and has the same easy confidence of many of the contestants. His delivery has an instinctive rhythm and he can pull punchlines out of unexpected places. His is a solid act, which could be elevated into something even better with judicious editing, cutting his tales to the chase to release their obvious comic potential.

Talking of confidence, Luke Catterson had it in spades, with an unhurried ice-cool delivery. He has the innate skill to hold the audience, even when nothing funny’s being said: which is both a strength and a weakness as again many of the stories could do with tighter build-ups, even though his natural talents mean the audience forgive the fluff. Again there are laughs, occassionally from a jarringly harsh punchline, but they could be closer together.

But for sheer nerve, Alex Love takes the biscuit for immediately announcing he’s studying at Southampton’s biggest rival, Portsmouth. His charm wins the audience over, mind, and he’s quickly back on track. As for material, he’s got a handful of nice ideas, but doesn’t fully realise them and could do with a few more twists and punchlines.

Micky Anderson had a lot of home-crowd support, who he didn’t disappoint with a fluid set that started with tramps and moved seamlessly on to bestiality and finally reality TV. For its well thought-through narrative, the set didn’t quite gel into consistent laughs, but again it had a good share of funny moments, the cynical material delivered with a chipper style.

Steve Bennett
February 27, 2006