Many things were funny that evening, and not just because I’d accidently got two hours sleep the night before and was so delirious with tiredness that I was almost at the point of not understanding the English language. But let not the consequences of my bad behaviour belittle the fantastic entertainment on offer in Jericho Café’s intimate downstairs venue.
Jericho Comedy runs twice a month in Jericho Café, organised by Tight Five comedy and showcasing ten minute sets by up and coming comedians. This month many were fresh (or perhaps not so fresh) off the Edinburgh circuit. The night was compered by Alex Farrow, a charming host and otherwise philosophy teacher whose professorial characteristics were displayed in a highly educational game he’d invented using quotes from the Bible’s raunchy ‘Song of Solomon’...
We were sat dauntingly close to the performers (so close that at one point my plus one was asked to hold one of their microphones) and fully expected to be picked on. Luckily for us though, the couple one row behind us proved such comical fodder that we were almost completely ignored. Poor Tarrant, getting publicly ripped to pieces (however endearingly) on a first date is never a good look.
The evening started off with Russian Olga Koch. Having trained as a computer scientist, she focused her set quite heavily on the issues of being a woman in this male-dominated sector. In fact, this seemed to be an overriding theme of the night; the gender imbalance within comedy was also focused on, and there was a light bit of Tory bashing, all of which created a lovely sense of inclusivity to the evening if, that is, you are a left leaning feminist, which we all should be anyway. Sam Lee was the first to bring up online dating. I find this can be focused on quite heavily in current comedy and, as a sporadic user of these depressing apps, I want to go to a stand-up night to forget the woes and bleakness of modern day dating. But with a short set filled with filth and pazaz, I forgave him, and thanked my lucky stars I won’t ever have to use Grindr. Both Ben Bridgeman and Ophelie Hocquard’s personal and observational sets were juxtaposed with the bizarre and unsettling musical humour of my highlight comic of the evening, Huge Davies - someone I highly recommend looking out for. Other highlights included Ed Patrick, for whom comedy is a sideline from his real job of being a doctor. Working for the NHS, I guess if you don’t laugh you just have to curl into a ball and cry. I did want to know more about the sexual injuries he mentioned though, but perhaps it best to be left guessing. The night ended with the fantastic Ken Cheng and his application of mathematical thinking to his most hated English words and phrases. Incidentally, Cheng was winner of the Edinburgh Fringe’s funniest joke award with ‘I’m not a fan of the new pound coin, but then again, I hate all change.’
Overall, the venue was lovely, the quality of performers extremely high, and all the profits are donated the mental health charity Mind. Short set times mean you won’t lose attention in the fast-paced and energetic atmosphere. What’s not to love? Just don’t bring a date.