First act after the break was Rohan Sharma. This former Footlights comic was the only act to do a mini-powerpoint presentation and his visual lecture-cum-vox-pop on racism had the audience howling. The jokes and visual gags started simple before spiralling off into something more absurd. His ingenious rug-pulling landed him £1000 - appropriately for a bait-and-switch merchant his trophy was a statue of a fish.

The standard did slightly slip from the high point, though that might possibly have been down to audience fatigue more than the quality of the acts. I'd suggest a shorter final would be a good idea in future. Apart from anything else it would mean this review would not have to take up two pages of precious internet space.

Ibs Sesay was also a top three contender for me though. One of the few performers here to make an obligatory reference to their neurodivergence. He didn't outstay his welcome with a set that mixed straight observational witticisms with more personal material. 

Mark Moloney was a striking hairless perfomer, who shrewdly steered clear of obvious quips about his appearance such as claiming to be Tom Allen's stunt double. Most of his material was imaginative as well as honest about his baldness, bemoaining the inevitable downsides, such as when you shelter from the rain using a newspaper and the print comes off onto your pate. He had a strong stage presence, keeping the audience hooked to hear his next line.

Maybe my attention was starting to drift by the time Jack Henry came on, but he didn't quite make the impact he was hoping for with short routines about his OCD and anal surgery. There's nothing like a bit of honesty in comedy but maybe the anal surgery skit was a bit too much. 

The energy level in the room dipped a little for Sascha LO, who played up her persona as a young entitled woman. It was funny but it was never quite clear how much was a comic character and how much was real. There was nothing wrong with the performance, but better writing might have made the distinction clearer. The opposite could have been said for Laura Walsh, whose material was probably stronger than her performance.

The final act was just what we needed, someone with bags of atittude. Gabrielle MacPherson seemed to have modelled her stage persona on Liam Gallagher circa 1996, swaggering around and at one point looking like she was going to leap intothe audience and deck someone. Not the most sophisticated of sets but after a lull MacPherson certainly ended the evening on a high. I'm not going to be the one to criticise her - she 's quite funny but bloody terrifying

Picture by Steve Ullathorne (Rohan Sharma at front)