Rebecca Humphries (pictured top) was easily the best known act, having already received praise for her full-length Edinburgh show Dizney Rascal last summer. She kicked off with an excerpt from the show which I thought might not be such a success in isolation, but her reference points – and the footage behind her – instantly struck a nerve.  

Humphries neatly sent herself up by claiming that she was foolishly closing with a new song that wasn't very good, but in fact Role Models was arguably the hit of the night as she rattled through the alphabet, putting the boot into sexualised pop stars, Kim Kardashian and various other shallow celebrities. Part-Bridget Christie, part-Luisa Omielan, it was feminism with a catchy melody. The audience loved it, as did the judges. Humphries and her keyboardist Jo Cichonska won both the main prize of £500 and the audience prize of £300.

The excitement dipped a little when dour Peter Bazely walked on, fringe in his eyes and head down. Bazely had a hint of Joe Wilkinson about him, but was less of a social misfit. Despite being very lo-fi he interacted well with the audience and had a winning unexpected Jehovah’s Witness gag lurking in the middle of his set. Distinctive stuff which justified his joint third place.

Last act was guitarist Luke Courtier. There had only been six finalists but with each of them doing 12 minutes it was quite a long haul without an interval and maybe energy levels in the room were starting to fall by the time Courtier came on. Like DW he specialised in clever, wordy songs. It's not every day you hear an act ask “is anyone into charcuterie?”.

If Courtier had been on earlier he might have made more of an impact, but maybe by now the audience was more eager to see special guests Rachel Parris and Cassette Boy and also get to the bar for an interval drink. But despite Courtier's clear potential, Humphries and DW were well ahead of the pack. And would have been whatever the running order. 

All pictures by Elina Maria Kansikas