A Footlights Smoker is not an easy thing to review. It is a one-off, so I can’t warn you of things to look out for, or recommend attendance. It is an evening of subjective comedy, where failure to laugh is more likely to be a result of your imperviousness to the joke than the joke not being funny. And most concerning of all, taking notes during the performance causes people to think I am stealing material. Which of course I wouldn’t do. So conspicuously. 

In my short time at Cambridge I have been audience at three Footlights smokers; this was the best yet.

Funny man Keith Akushie opened the show, with a hilarious set re-living some old jokes: millennium bugs and Berlin walls. Akushie has a timeless charm about him as these jokes went down in history as some of the best of the night.

But there was also mention of more recent affairs, something deep in everyone’s hearts in which we cannot help but feel we should be involved; no, not the Middle-Eastern conflict (although that was brought up) but the social networking phenomenon that is Facebook. At my count, Zuckerberg’s baby got four different mentions in an hour, including a funny scene of a Facebook-rape crime. One in particular was great, a quick-witted and cleverly delivered poem about a computer and pornography – and my editor, sitting behind me, remarked out loud during the show that it was fantastic, so I wouldn’t dare write anything else!

Other notable sketches include: a boy who tells “absurd but very specific lies” and then meets a wolf (geddit?); Lewis Hamilton falling out with a friend due to incessant bragging about his wins; a birthday present of a watch that can stop time but just turns out to be a yearlong social experiment ; a song on the guitar full of sexual innuendos and a crude scene at the gynaecologist, vulgar enough to make you feel bad about laughing, but funny enough that you laugh nonetheless (and loudly at that).

The Footlights Committee (Roberts, Evans, Mullarkey, Johnson, Williams &co) feature in several original and punchy sketches each with word play aplenty to keep the punters like me happy. Example: “a tabloid newspaper... a politician... your turn, think of something that lies.” “Erm, a snake?” “Why a snake, are you thinking of the Garden of Eden?” “No, just it’s got no legs”. Groan. By Lauren Davidson