2010 Edinburgh Fringe
The Lunchtime Club review
The Lunchtime Club is The Five Pound Fringe's showcase of young talent which takes place every day at, err, lunchtime. Despite the format only being in its second year, this show is already picking up quite a reputation for selecting the stars of the future. Members of last year's 'class' have gone on to win both the Chortle and So You Think You're Funny? competitions, whilst comics from this year's line-up are already picking up prizes (Rob Beckett and Liam Williams came first and second in Sunday's AmusedMoose LaughOff final).
22 year-old Reading Comedy Festival New Act of the Year Liam Williams probably has the hardest job, as he acts as the show's compare and thus must spend much of his time off-script chatting with the audience. He proves to be an excellent host and repeatedly demonstrates an ability to think quickly on his feet. Williams fulfils his comparing duties very well indeed, from seeking out the most interesting audience members to banter with, to warming up the crowd into loud rounds of applause. On the day of this review, Williams revealed he had a rather good singing voice too as, upon discovering a singer in the audience, an impromptu duet was swiftly organised. Williams is very impressive all-rounder indeed.
Chortle finalist Rob Beckett is the first to be introduced to the stage by Williams. A fast stream of gags follows from the 24 year-old, along with a funny reading from a Sylvester Stallone book. He's got a good turn of phrase and a couple of solid gags, but needs to slow down a tad, as some of the better one-liners are slightly lost in the delivery. Fast-talking can be the sign of nerves or a quick brain and, whilst it clearly hasn't harmed Mark Watson's career, Beckett could probably do with adding the odd pause. Still, that said, having just won the AmusedMoose competition Beckett is clearly doing just fine as-is.
Next up is Ian Smith, a man not blessed with the most distinctive of names (being just 21 years-old, it's not too late for Smith to invent a stage name to help him stand out on the circuit). It becomes apparent within the first few seconds of Smith stepping on stage that the Chortle finalist is high on energy and into crowd interaction. A couple of the gags are a bit sub-standard (the less said about the Reading .v. reading joke the better), but Smith also has some top jokes in his repertoire. Despite the lunchtime setting, a couple of slightly risky gags about topics such as the Nazis go down a treat. Reminding us that The Lunchtime Club is technically a learning ground for new comedians, on the day of this review Smith realised towards the end of his set that he'd forgotten to setup a crucial feed line, but he managed to recover well. He'll probably never emotionally recover from showing his school photo to the audience though.
Tom Rosenthal is up next. He's certainly one to watch as he will be starring in a Channel 4 sitcom alongside Simon Bird this winter (Friday Night Dinner). His surname may already be familiar to sports fans - yes, his dad is indeed presenter Jim Rosenthal. Much of the 22 year-old's set is based around his father and sports commentators. It's a carefully constructed, wordy routine with some great turns of phrase. Rosenthal's set also takes in more general things such as Facebook but includes a bold routine about the Wii computer game console that demonstrates this is someone definitely thinking about his comedy and not just going through the motions.
Last up is the oldest of the group, although at just 25 that hardly makes Joel Dommett ancient or anything. Like many of the others in this year's intake, he likes fiddling with his hair... but I digress. What is perhaps more noticeable is that Dommett doesn't deal in gags but instead likes to tell long-form stories. These appear to be very fresh stories too - in fact they relate to things that have supposedly occured this very Festival. Whether or not the stories are true (it's hard to tell) they are told in such a compelling way and with such energy that the audience is totally sucked in. The laughs come hard as he acts getting a flyer for a dodgy play on the Royal Mile and increase even more as he explains what happened when he attended the play in question. I certainly hope the end of the story was fictional for his own sanity... but, either way, it's a very fun tale indeed.
Listening in to the chatter from the crowd as they left the venue, it was clear everyone was leaving very happy indeed and feeling like they'd got an absolute bargain. They'd be right, as these are five comedians who, apart from the odd slip up revealing that they're technically still learning the craft, deliver a very accomplished 90 minutes of comedy between them. Plus, with tickets just £5 for the 90 minutes, it really is a bargain!