COMEDY REVIEW: Liverpool Comedy Festival, Best of Liverpool Night, Royal Court

May 29 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

CULTURE Company boss Phil Redmond always likes to compare the machinations of 2008 to a "Scouse wedding". And if it were, last night the entertainment had arrived.

Compered by Les Dennis, who these days seems to make a career out of simply being Les Dennis, the evening ran the spectrum of the city’s humour and, as tried and tested over the years, found that traditional and modern can share a stage surprisingly comfortably.

Pete Price kicked off the evening, regaling the audience mostly with tales of the more dubious callers to his radio show. He is one of those figures you either love or hate, and Even though it wasn’t the first outing for his material, he knows what to do and somehow it’s always fun to listen.

The manic nature of Simon Bligh changed the tone of the evening for the first time. Energetic, bold and dysfunctional, his disarming, yet charming, set was irresistible.

Lennie Anderson made things traditional again with a "take my wife" style set, before the entrance of Sam Avery, who runs Rawhide’s own open mike nights. His relaxed, conversational way saw that his seven minutes (the allocated time for all acts) flew by.

Teenager Tom Hawskett is rising through the ranks after graduating from the Comedy Trust’s Stand Out course. With no room in his act for swearing or smut, his set seemed more considered, and as such didn’t rely on so many cheap laughs – an interesting contrast to other acts.

Veteran comedian Micky Finn ended the first half with a class act of old-school gags, then after the interval, the ever-watchable Brendan Riley filled his time well with a slot clearly tailored to the Liverpool theme, and proved that falling back on a comedy German accent still works. Every time.

Actress Linzi Germain is an unabashed, unashamed filthy Scouse loudmouth who is at once a) clearly quite frightening and b) a brilliant comic. Her material was strong and her delivery confident throughout her rather extraordinary set.

Peep Show star Neil Fitzmaurice was next, his first time doing stand up for about six years, he calculated. Another winner, his flow as an actor worked twinned with some solid observational comedy couldn’t fail.

Surprise guest Vince "Ron Dixon" Earle followed, with a self-aware, self-depreciating line in classic Liverpudlian humour that worked very nicely indeed. But

There was no better choice to finish the night than with guitar-wielding comic Steve Gribbin, and his razor-sharp topical ditties on everything from John Terry to the Taliban and his famous Scouse hip-hop.

If licensing laws would have allowed it, you got the feeling that this one would have gone on all night.

vickyanderson@dailypost.co.uk