7th November - Myths and legends.

Arrrrg! I've just done this once and the deleted it all by mistake! So it might be short- I'm not writing that out again. Above are pics of some performers; guest compere James Christopher, Vladamir Mc Tavish (Actally in the guise of Bob Doolally), Don Barr and Belly Rub. Apologies to the newer performers but the camera proved to be out of batteries.

We were back up to a respectable audience number this week, largely due to an influx from Newcastle college, coming to support 3 acts from that excellent establishment. Al went up first and thought he detected a cultured accent among the rabble, 'Are you posh?' he asked, 'What's posh?' queried the crowd member, 'Do you know what SPAM tastes like?'

Al introduced the fabulous belly Rub, whose sketches cover all of life's problems, from discipling children while repecting their right to freedom of expression, to securing enough jazz for one's daily needs. Don Barr had noticed that even the road signs express the legendary hardness of the geordie, having seen this on the A1- 'pedestrians in road, slow to 50.' (Presumably if you hit a geordie at 60, he might spill his pint- and then you're in trouble.)

Guest compere James Christopher had more advice he'd noticed at the sea-side, 'Dont drink and drown' - emblazoned on a beer mat. (Apparently swimming is OK, just don't drown - if this approach works motorists will soon be advised 'Don't drink and crash.') He brought on Jenny Armstrong with a repeat of last week's act (what the hell- no one saw it last week.) she'd even re-drawn the duck so it was big enough for those at the back to see. Another Newcastle colleger was Jez Scharf, a presentable young man with a nice suit, a glorious head of hair and some charming self-depricating material - he disguised his need to check his notes with the line, 'Before I tell a joke I always like to look at a piece of paper.'

Running out of time, Pete dashed through the competition. (Very poor standard this week- the questions will now be on this site in advance so the swots among you can come up with some decent ones.) Pete (sod it-me.) introduced Ross Nelson and Vladamir McTavish, but as he (me) was thinking about what he (I) was going to say, he (I) forgot to make any notes. I do remember that Ross was the only one to mention the theme- though his 'legendary' event was stretching the term a bit, and that he did a fine debut set. And Vladamir will be familiar to you all after his 2 recent festival appearances. It's a real shot in the arm for us when pros like him stop by to try out new stuff and generally show us how it's done. Hats off, Sir.

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