Ho Ho Ho-ing all the way home
Review of UCLU Comedy Club’s Christmas Show
It’s Christmas time, and it is most definitely the season to be jolly! UCL Jokers performed their seasonal comedy show at Richard Mully’s Basement Bar last night to a rapturous reception from the audience, and it’s no surprise, given the wealth of talent and quick witted humour on display for our festive delight.
Starting off the night, the Blank Slates Improvisation group took to the stage, showcasing various improvisation games. Perhaps a little erratic and at times most definitely manic, the group of energetic and enthusiastic jokers sufficiently warmed up and won over the eager spectators by encouraging audience participation, leading to some rather suspect suggestions and extremely humorous results. Led by Finlay Green, the group delivered fast and thoroughly entertaining comedy completely made up on the spot.
The next act was the Comedy Club’s Gower Line Sketch Group, whose comedy was again fast paced and snappy. The stand out sketch by a mile was that of two doctors giving a child a heart transplant whilst surreptitiously dropping lines from Wham’s classic Christmas song, Last Christmas. Hilarious! Some of the sketches were perhaps a little lost, and the closing song ‘Moonies’ to the tune of Jingle Bells was more than a little shambolic (sorry!), but the audience was forgiving as is customary at this festive time of year.
After the break, we were met by the highlight of the show, Musical Theatre Society’s improvisation group The Wrong People. Asking the audience for a title for the musical, a song title and a location, we were treated to the pure comic genius that was ‘McDonald’s the Musical’, featuring special guests: Johnny Cash and Little Miss Muffet. In a mere 20 minutes or so Little Miss Muffet’s Tuffet, a burger shop, fell prey to a hostile takeover bid from Mr McDonald, then managed to foil the evil plot by winning a burger cook-off! This group is immensely talented and tremendously funny, acting on impulse to improvise plot, song lyrics and melodies. If you ever have the chance to see them live, go!
The night ended with headliner Kwame Asante, UCL student and winner of the Chortle Student Comedy Award 2012 for his stand up routine. Tackling the issues of racism in football (complete with handmade diagrams), piracy in Somalia, and embarrassing encounters with ex-girlfriends, Kwame’s routine was side-splittingly funny, yet the shortness of his routine was admittedly a little disappointing. It would have been nice to have seen more of his award-winning talents, but what the audience did see was absolutely hilarious.
Jonathan Miller gave the night the token groan-inducing comedy that is needed and expected from a host, handing out his many Family Guy Christmas Special DVDs accumulated over many Christmases in the past and encouraging the audience to get involved and join in making the night even more entertaining. His retelling of Clement Clarke Moore’s much loved poem ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ or ‘The Night Before Christmas’, complete with saucy Santa joining a couple in their “festive fun”, should be published somewhere, as it had the audience in floods of tears.
A night of fun, festivity and frivolity, if you missed the UCLU Jokers Christmas Comedy Show, you really did miss out on a fantastic night of entertainment and laughter. Make a note in your new calendar to go next year!