The second half started in more cheery fashion with South Londoner via Ireland Ed Day. It is not fair to make comparisons but Day had an amiable cheeky chappy persona, a bit Rob Beckett, a bit Alan Davies. He was one of the most conventional storytelling acts on the night, joking about his nan and the crazy Irish branch of his family, but also one of the acts with then most mainstream potential. A new name to me and still a bit raw, but clearly one to watch. The judges liked him enough to award him third place.
Yuriko Kotani lives in London but comes from Japan, which immediately gave her a different comic perspective. When she discovered that there were no Japanese audience members her quick reply was “still working”. She was pretty industrious herself, with a tight set that found laughs in London underground posters about cancer as well as cultural differences. There is, apparently, no equivalent of “-ish” in the Japanese language, which was both interesting and funny. I can’t think of a Japanese comedy act who has made it big in the UK since the Frank Chickens. Kotani could do it. It got her second place on the night.
Stephen Lawson, from the less exotic St Helens, kicked off by making jokes about his appearance, but with good reason. He is twenty but tiny, skinny and fair and looks about twelve years old. His humour showed quite a bit of maturity though, with jokes about Red Nose Day, his hometown, badminton and a new gag about selfie sticks. Lawson was certainly assured onstage, though his writing could be tighter. I imagine that will come in time. There was certainly enough here to justify his place in the final.
AJ Roberts was a fast-talker from Tottenham and when I say fast-talking I mean really fast talking. After a few pedestrian jokes he embarked on a lighting quick monologue about travelling and working in London which really built up momentum and had some stand-out jokes in it. The only trouble was that Roberts had nowhere to go from here and other stories used the same trick. In an alternative life Roberts would have probably been a brilliant street market trader. He can also make it in comedy, but it may take time.
And finally we had London-based Italian Luca Cupani. While other acts arguably had stronger material Cupani demonstrated the power of charisma with a smiley, charming set which wowed the audience. He did have a very good opening though about Italian food and crime before embarking on a more odd story about sex and condoms. His strong accent was no drawback, and if anything it made everyone warm to him even more. It certainly did the trick for the judges, who picked Cupani as their worthy winner. It will be interesting to see whether this international flavour is a taste of things to come or a flash in the comedy pan.
A list of the judges is here.
