Review by Amanjeet Heer.

I realised I had left my glasses at home as I sat in my seat for the Late-Night Jokes show, hosted by Alex Hylton. It soon became clear I didn’t actually need them. It wasn’t the best of comedy performances.

It began promisingly enough. Award-winning comedian Chris Norton Walker, set the bar high with his classic one liners, jokes and puns, gags, and wordplay. If there’s one thing that Chris knows for sure, is keeping the audience on their toes with his wacky and sexual humour.

We then got to see silly and unruly. My mistake, Hillie and Hulie, played by Rahul and George. As a fellow Asian, I was just about able to grasp Leicester-born Rahul’s jokes, but the audience’s reaction would say otherwise. I did find myself, at times, joining in with the forced laughter, when I could be bothered to do so. There’s that saying, “right person, wrong time” – and I think that fits perfectly with Rahul’s performance. He had a few good jokes, just for the wrong audience.

WARNING: take some headphones with you if you attend one of George’s shows. The act was straight up creepy, weird and utterly bizarre. A very scary take on comedy, which Hylton agreed to, with his eerie ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ (hence the need for the headphones). And I’m not talking about the hide in your duvet covers scary, I’m talking get-me-a-bag-I’m-about-to-vomit scary. The funniest thing about it was everyone’s tense reactions. At this point, I was really starting to question the ‘selection of finest acts.’ 

I was finally revived after reigning UK Pun Champion (2020), Adele Cliff hopped onto the stage, with her energetic, straight-talking and sarcastic performance. The star’s no-filter and PG-rated story telling jokes infected the audience with amusement and had me double checking for my glasses in my pocket. A real quality act.

Jason Neil was ok. I don’t really have much to say about his performance other than the fact it started off well but then got lost along the way somewhere. It’s a shame because I did see potential. Nevertheless, it was a breath of fresh air when Kevin Daniel took to the mic with his natural comedic talent and commanding stage presence. The audience would agree that it was undoubtedly a noble and witty performance.

Maybe I was fonder of the some of the acts purely because the others were crap. But I do know I probably wouldn’t go again. This was a pay-what-you-want show. I arrived with £20. I left with £21. Somebody had left a pound on my chair.