The second half started with Maisie Adam. I wasn’t keen on her vertical striped shirt but I’m only bringing that up because I can’t find any other faults with her set, which centred on an anecdote about her eccentric French teacher and dancing at parties. Imagine a Yorkshire female Peter Kay, complete with references to Corrie and Oasis. Adam had plenty of energy and physicality, getting an applause break for showing how learning to dance on a dance mat is no preparation for a night at the disco. Adam won and will clearly be snapped up by a showbiz agency if she has been snapped up already.
This year has clearly been a strong year for women in Edinburgh and this competition was no exception. Robin Allender was a competent millennial male, with a dry wit, talking about the trials of moving back in with his parents. And talking of trials, he is one of the few comedians I’ve ever seen who namechecked Kafka (editor’s note - Kafka wrote The Trial). He also notched up brownie points for mentioned auteur Tarkovsky, but not enough brownie points to get a place.
Amira Saied was one of the quirkier comics on the night, stand still on stage and discussing ideas for celebrity brands of perfume. Her idea of Donald Trump launching a fragrance called Collusion was a little too close to the viral spoof ad of Scarlett Johansson promoting “Complicit”, but there were some other quips that stood out, such as her idea that Holby City must be a real hospital because nobody could act that badly.
Eric Rushton came close to being the only dud on the night. He was not bad, but lacked something to make him stand out. To his credit he was one of the few acts to talk about Brexit and the state of the world, suggesting that if God was a football manager he would have been sacked long ago. But in his favour Rushton is young and just starting out and will clearly improve in the next few years.
Final act of the night was a stand-up with a twist. Archie Henderson had put a huge amount of effort into his seven-minute set, which boasted lighting changes, sound cues and musical interludes. All of these things, however, hid the fact that this self-styled “motherflipper” did not have that many gags. He certainly has funny bones, as he demonstrated with his impression of a car showroom inflatable person (something rising star Jack Gleadow does too), he just needs to flesh them out with more jokes.
Picture by Steve Ullathorne.
