By its very nature, the night is never going to be spectacular. Anyone can turn up and put their name down to perform and anyone can scribble down a topic that they want the performers to talk about. The participants are called up randomly, their names being pulled out of a bucket, and the subject on which they have to improvise up to five minutes of comedy is selected by the same method.
There’s a certain kind of charm in the anarchy and spontaneity of it all – no one knows who will be up next or what they’ll be talking about – and some contenders do quite well at striking up a few minutes of amusing material. The ones who struggle are swiftly given a warning via a car screech sound effect and if they don’t improve quickly this is followed by a crashing noise that signifies they must leave the stage. This structure means there is never too long a period during which any one act delivering a boring speech on a single topic; equally, on a single night there won’t necessarily be an act that really impresses.
On this particular occasion only one participant reaches the five minute mark without being shooed off and he does this by shouting a lot and receiving a rapturous response from who seem to be predominantly his friends. A couple of other acts don’t receive quite as vocal a reaction and as such are faced with the order to leave the stage earlier than others, even when they’re perhaps a bit more interesting.
It’s a fun concept and overall an entertaining evening, but the very aspects that make it fresh and exciting (the fact that no one knows what will happen next) also feed into its drawbacks. However, for the rare moments of great and often unexpected comedy it’s probably worth the risk.