Well, it came ... and it's gone again!
The Hull Comedy Festival People, together with Buzz Comedy's Agra and those crazy guys from Tenfootcity.com have done it again! I am, of course, talking about the Tenfootcity Comedian of the Year Competition 2008.
For me, this has always been the highlight of the festival. (in the two years that the competition has been running) The final took place at the Royal Hotel in the centre of the city next to the train station. (As posh as it gets for Hull folk) And just like last year, the event attracted one of the biggest audiences of the Comedy Festival.
All of the acts were fairly new to stand-up, all having been performing for a year or so. And as ever, the acts all must have had resided in the region for some time. With this in mind, you may be forgiven for thinking that the whole thing would be a fairly 'samey' and stagnent pond. You may be forgiven of thinking that it would be made up of the usual off the wall chaos and weirdo rants (As did I - although I do enjoy that kind of thing very much)
How wrong we were! Last year's competition may have been amature night at the village hall, but this year, it seemed to have gone in a totally other gear. I'm not sure what the organisers have done, but whatever it was, it sure must have taken a sh@t-load of organising.
The first decision was to replace dear old Agra as compere(god bless him) He is a lovable guy and a real faviorite with everyone. But it was obviously decided that the show needed some 'zap and pow' Cue Mr Showbiz himself, compere Jamie sutherland. Jamie really had to work for his money, with the audience being somewhat ...err..asleep! (the venue was also freezing!) But as ever, Jamie warmed the folks up nicely, letting us all know what to expect from the star turns and what was expected of us.
I won't bore you by running through all nine (That's right! 9 - NINE acts!) If you go to the Hull Comedy Festival or Chortle website, then you can get a general idea of how the night went.
The final prize was no doubt a difficult one for the judges to award. In the end, it was a fairly close run thing between the multi-competition winner Sam Gore and new-comer Ben Harland.
Sam Gore is a polished modern comic with all that that entails. He delivered a stylishly brutal set that was intelligently funny - and it was very funny. This guy is definitly going places and I look forward to seeing more of him. Sam took the winner's title at the end of the night.
Second place was taken by Ben Harland. Ben had a very different style to everyone on the bill, and proved refreshingly entertaining. He managed to breath much needed energy and excitment into the end of what could have seemed a fairly long evening. Ben played the role of a nervous comic, uneasy with the audience and with a seemingly unscripted act. It became quickly apparent that this was a comic disguise, as the audience errupted with approval. 'Silly funny' and totally enjoyable - Ben was awarded the winners trophy for a close second place.
Race and gender issues aside, a well put together line-up and an interesting outcome. What more could a punter possibly ask for. Can't wait for next year - very well done to everyone invoved!
