The show was very well written and all the comics seemed quite likeable, though it was a little sloppy. The Compare, Ian Samson, warmed the audience up well with a quick and relaxed delivery, at the same time getting away with being quite rude to specific audience members. That said he did a dire segment later in the night about Youtube comments that was cheap, unfunny and given in a terrible Russian accent, which he should never do again.

 First up we had Jaime Fraser, who started weakly with some jokes about Thatcher but managed to weave it all into a fairly convincing piece. He had a knack for picking everyday topics that we could all warm to, showing an impressive versatility in weaving together jokes about childhood, ‘cheating on the eye test’ and his father into a rather eclectic, though very interesting segment about the problem of ‘trying to be interesting.’  However, he tried to get WAY too much mileage out of explaining his jokes back to the audience (perhaps an attempt to be self-effacing and meta) which ruined his delivery. I particularly did not enjoy an attempt to garner affection with a recurring joke that involved playing Nicki Minaj at excruciating volume whilst moving his tiny bum around the stage.

Next, Ben Pope, dressed like a Harry Styles wannabe, won the audience over immediately with his strong presence and machine-gun delivery. As he held forth on topics from dubstep - imagine “ beating a heron to death with a sack full of fire alarms” - to Catholicism and cookery, I was drawn to his colourful and original style. He recovered exceptionally well when jokes didn’t go down as expected. Even when I found some of his material tired I was still strung along by his stage manner, anticipating what he might turn to next.  He perhaps suffered from not giving us enough time to let the real punch lines set in - I want to have time to laugh at good jokes.

Ken Cheng, last up, had the sharpest lines of the night. I have rarely seen a stand-up comic in Cambridge so good at setting up recurring themes. He was subtle and witty, joking about maths and being “ friend zoned”, and squeamishly crude talking about his porn addiction and internet dating. His stories were well punctuated with quicker gags to keep your attention.  His note that it is annoying when comedians joke about how socially awkward they are to a room of 200 people, however, didn’t stop him padding his jokes out in just that way. I find it so infuriating when entertainers do this, and I see it too frequently in Cambridge stand up. Telling us how badly your show isn’t going while shifting nervously side to side, “ umming,” just has me looking at my watch.  Nevertheless, the show deserves a watch for being fresh and varied and I hope they get the full house they deserve.