A Very Merry Christmas

OK, so it wasn't quite Christmas, but it was my dad's birthday. Incidentally, November's comedy night was my mum's birthday - and I didn't invite either of them. How mean.
Almost everything went to plan for December 11th 2008, but as with all things live and laughterful, something was bound to crop up, but it was only one amendment to the line-up, which was:

• Jim Smallman was the MC for the night. I think he was a little surprised by the venue ("a ****ing shed" was his description, I believe - not far off the truth really), but he quickly got the audience on-side and by the end of the night, both he and the audience had bonded as if they'd known each other all their lives. I'm sure Jim will remember "Dave" for a while for one of the most off-the-wall sections of banter I've ever seen.
• Big D started the night off well. Big by name, big in stature and the big laughs he deserved were hindered a little, probably, by my own mistake. I didn't have the PA turned up enough, so I think some people were struggling to hear him.
• Annette Fagon hushed the room instantly by launching into a routine on smear tests. I think many men in the room went away knowing more about smear tests than ever before, and probably more than they ever wanted to! That's not to say Annette wasn't funny. She was. Very. I will never forget the fashion advice proffered by her niece. It's one of those persisting mental images that pops up every now and then, and makes me smile every time.
• Ray Kane came on after the first interval, with some great material, well-presented. Every reviewer mentions the "hoodie" song, and rightly so - top class. I think Ray was a little taken aback to discover afterwards that Wayne Rooney's uncle was in the audience, although I expect his credibility would have made him keep the gags in the act anyway, if he'd known beforehand.
• Lou Chawner was the second act of the middle "half" of the gig. You could be mistaken for thinking that Lou is perhaps a little too laidback, and his humour a little drawn out. In my opinion, he pulls the audience so nicely into his world that the punchlines hit harder than if they were delivered in a more flippant manner. Unfortunately, I missed about half of his set as I had to attend to beer (it's a dirty job etc...).
• This month's surprise, for me at least, was Pete Teckman from Northampton, who replaced Ben Briggs at short notice. Very comfortable in his performance. Managed to exceptional feat of appearing just to be chatting to us, rather than performing. A 10 minute set of great quality, delivered extremely confidently. The surprise came later when Pete told me he'd only been doing stand-up for 9 months or so. He seems to be a natural and I'd recommend his act to anyone.
• Finally came Christian Reilly, fresh from a popular comedy venue in town. He schmoozed into his act with some lovely banter with the front rows. Finding a Polish guy on the front row, working in a bakery was too good an opportunity for him to miss, so his actual set didn't start until about closing time! His blend of charm, wit, cruel humour and musical mastery left people physically in pain from laughing so hard. Absolutely brilliant headliner, who hung about afterwards chatting till the we small hours. I knew I'd just enjoyed a real treat.

So, two gigs down and a January gig to prepare for. Early notices from Ben were that he'd lined up some good acts for January, but nothing finalised at that point.