Brian Gittins, sporting a pink afro and dungarees displayed his innate talent for dividing the room with a set mixing awkward songs with haphazard gags. Half the audience enjoyed it, the other half is probably still having flashbacks. Not an act you'll be seeing on Live at the Apollo soon. Natasia Demetriou, flying solo while her partner Ellie White is doing proper theatre in The Miser in the West End, snogged the front row, dressed up as a pizza slice and was almost upstaged by video footage of her father sitting in a park and telling his favourite joke.
The final batch, including two more Edinburgh Comedy Award winners, ensured that proceedings finished on a high. John Kearns looked unusually normal in jeans and sweat shirt. It was only his monk’s wig and comedy teeth that hinted at the brilliantly skewed, offbeat nature of his material. It was good to see his downtrodden, bleak flights of fancy in a club setting. If this was material from a new show it definitely bodes well.
I’ve not seen much of Cardinal Burns since they were last on Channel 4, but their two sketches tonight demonstrated that they are not short on ideas and also have great onstage chemistry. Their wasted rave musicians were painfully comical but far better was their send up of Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston offering audition advice, which perfectly nailed the pretentions of the modern thespian.
As the evening tipped over into its third hour a sexily scruffy Tim Key (pictured) came on with his lager can and laminated cards with poems on them and mixed oblique verses with moans about not being told by the promoter Rupert how late he was in the running order.
Key has been so busy acting onscreen and onstage recently I’d forgotten how good he is at this live comedy lark. His full-length live shows have been some of the most memorable events I’ve seen in recent years. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long before he does another one. Meanwhile I'm already counting the days to Knock2bag's twentieth birthday bash.
For more upcoming Knock2bag nights click here.
