The cozy upstairs room of The Quadrant was all-abuzz with the sound of glasses clinking and chitter-chatter, preceding what I hoped would be a night of raucous laughter and merriment. What followed was a bit of a mixed bag, but certainly some very accomplished stand-up performers.
The MC for the night was Ivor Dembina, who although got off to a bit of a shaky start, soon began to ease in the audience with some friendly banter. His speech pattern was a tad irregular and at first I found it hard to extrapolate what was supposed to be funny, but soon got used to it, as did the other 25 or so people in the audience. In his defense he was playing to a hugely varied audience in terms of age, so a lot of the jokes clearly were lost on some. Dembina soon broke the tension with some deliberately awkward comments and sarcastically rousing the audience; ‘If we could just lower the energy a bit please ladies and gentlemen…’. I felt he was a suitable MC and did an adequate job.
Up first was Gary Coleman, a lovable Geordie and a self-confessed ‘Voldemort’ lookalike. He kept his jokes close to home, discussing the pitfalls of living in Hackney and the horrific ordeal of a birthing pool. A few of his jokes fell flat but he recovered extremely well and was clearly well liked by the audience. Coleman is a charming performer who I would be eager to see more of.
Next was Rob Deb, whose comedy seemed based around self-deprecation and the state of his life at this point in time, which is living with his parents. He mainly discussed the advantages of being mixed race, as his parents are Irish and Indian. I didn’t get a great vibe from Deb. He seemed to have an air of arrogance about him that was unjustified and a lot of his jokes took too long to get to the punch line. There were certainly moments of hilarity; I just think he would have benefited from a longer set to fully connect with the audience.
Up next was the rather risqué but gratifyingly fresh Sameena Zehra, who preached about the joys of married love making, the disappointments of Skype sex and the awkwardness of sexy emails accidentally sent to her father-in-law. She was warm and witty and was clearly really enjoying herself up on stage, which permeated through to the audience. Her full-length show ‘Tea With Terrorists’ would definitely be worth a watch if it’s as funny as her stand-up.
The comedy of Gareth Berliner was initially endearing and cruelly funny, recalling tales of childhood bullying and some clever wordplay. Berliner was soon joined on stage by his wife (and other half of his comedy duo), Kiruna Stamell, who I immediately recognized from Gervais and Merchant’s BBC comedy ‘Life’s Too Short’.
It wasn’t really my cup of tea. Their style was anecdotal and although they had good chemistry, I didn’t get a great sense of stage presence or outright punch lines. Again I think they could have benefited from more stage time; perhaps their free show ‘A Little Commitment’ might be more fruitful.
Mel Crosby was hit and miss. He was rather loud mouthed, in a good way, and made you sit up in your chair and listen, but the malicious undertones of some of his jokes, vilifying the royal family and the government were a bit out of place in his act, and drew much tutting and sighing from a few seated near me. His analysis of modern television and pornography, however, was refreshingly insightful. A decent stand-up comedian, I think his act just needs to be toned down a little bit, as this aspect was lost on most of the audience.
The highlight of the show was undoubtedly the final act, Neil McFarlane. The ‘posh Glaswegian’ had me in tears with his puns, tales of ignorant North Americans, receiving texts that aren’t meant for you and his Milton Jones-esque one liners. He is clearly a comedian willing to take risks and they surely paid off. In the nicest way possible he was just a bit of an oddball, and was clearly the most comfortable on stage out of all the performers.
Overall I was not disappointed but I was not enthralled by the so-called ‘Pick of the Fringe’. There were some solid performers who generated an acceptable level of laughter, but this may have been down to a rather lackluster audience and a venue too cozy for its own good. The stand out comedians were definitely the refreshing Sameena Zehra and of course the whimsical Neil McFarlane.
