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It’s a poetry night with a difference… three featured poets with an open poetry slam to boot. Lou Ice (Brighton) kicked off the evening with her sensuous charm, followed by Wilf Merhens’ brilliantly timed wit and understated comedy. But the highlight was Henry Bowers who dazzled us with his high energy and to-the-point observations on life. When it came to the poetry slam, the standard was varied, but using a ‘Dancing on Ice’ style judging system with randomly chosen audience members it determined who was well deserving of a place in the Christmas Slam final. A very entertaining evening with style and uniqueness.

Komedia, 6 October
Rating:
Sascha Cooper

Phill Jupitus and his three Comedy Store pals Andy Smart, Steven Frost and Steve Steen were practised improvisors, bonded and familiar with each others’ strengths and weaknesses enough to be able to drop each other in hot water from time to time with the confidence that they’ll more likely swim that sink. One great example of this was seen in a very funny game pairing Steen and Smart in a translation exercise, although other games did sometimes feel too lengthy. They were professionals, but with the amount of corpsing taking place on stage, at times it felt this show was more for their benefit than for the audience’s.

Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, 8 October
Rating:
Victoria Nangle

Janey Godley started out with mediocre material with class generalisations. She got into her stride once her topics reached the more specific material of her family life – particularly with one lovely anecdote about the relationship between herself, her husband and their grown-up daughter. However, she did readily dip back into the broad strokes of individual and less thought through material, wandering straight into storytelling with an “I said; she said” stint, which felt like a shame. With more stand up construction in her set taking precedence over ‘pub story’ rendition,s Godley could have had a compelling show. As it was, this was more a peak into the autobiography she flagged up at the end. Intriguing but just not enough stand up.

Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, 8 October
Rating:
Victoria Nangle

Blowing the socks off the Corn Exchange from the off, Frisky & Mannish continued where their previous shows left off:assuming their audience as a roomful of wannabes hungry for their barbed advice as to how to progress in the world of pop. More interactive than ever before, peppered with brilliant and versatile vocals and fabulous dance moves, this wonderful cabaret couple continue to lampoon their musical icons and disposable musical fads with ostentacious aplomb. After their last show had begun to show cracks, it was great to see them back on biting form.

Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, 7 October
Rating:
Victoria Nangle