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Would you recognise ‘Purple Haze’ played with a Kazoo? Can you write eloquent poetry concerning the virtues of buzzards in five minutes? Can you hunt and kill an angry swan with a toy gun? If so, congratulations, you are a suitable candidate for The Humble Quest for Universal Genius!

The show pits two comedians (this month: Tom Webb and Robin Buckland) against each other in a mammoth battle of wit and knowledge. An entertaining format which crescendoed into off-the-richter levels of frivolity and stupidity, whilst compare Mark Allen and “glamorous” assistant Eli Silverman valiantly battled to keep some sense of order. Fun, entertaining and only a few shades away from genius.

Upstairs at the Three and Ten, 16 September
Rating:
Woodie Whyte

Health worker Liz Bentley is also an endearingly scatty comedian, poet and musician, and this show was loosely based around her day-job experiences of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Bentley’s openness brought the audience, including a handful of curious NHS professionals and trainees, onside from the beginning, turning the evening into a kind of affectionate group counselling session. Her raw, enthusiastic ukulele and keyboard skills and short, sharp poems and songs marked Bentley as a punk at heart. Although sometimes bafflingly disjointed, she’s such a likeable performer that an hour in her company made one rather envious of her regular clinical patients.

Upstairs at the Three and Ten, 17 September
Rating:
Stuart Huggett

There was something quite sad about this show. Taking nothing away from the performance of the band who performed a truthful impression/tribute/carbon copy of the Sex Pistols Mk2 (the only anomaly being the bass player in this band could actually play, unlike Sid Vicious). The mannerisms and attitude were perfectly caught. However, the attitude was delivered to an audience clearly reliving their youth which included spitting, throwing empty pint glasses at the band and trying to get on the stage. It looked pathetic. The exuberance of youth as part of a vibrant scene is one thing, doing it as a bald overweight 50 yr old is ASBO material.

Worthing Pavilion, 17 September
Rating:
Lee Stevens

Edward Aczel has a scattergun approach to comedy, filling his show with a wide variety of offerings and throwing them all out to see what sticks. Some stuck. His Powerpoint flow charts of his ambitions and hopes were especially fun in Edward’s contemplative look at his place within the media hierarchy as a comedian (hence the title rather than is being of a more philosophical bent). Also proving a success was his list of double entendre and a rather bizarre French playlet. Not all random offerings hit the mark though, and his low energy delivery, when not actually concentrating on material, sometimes slipped into monotone, making it difficult to stay attentive.

Komedia Studio, 15 September
Rating:
Victoria Nangle