Hackney Empire New Act Of The Year 2009

Hackney Empire New Act Of The Year 2009

20 January, 2009
by: Emma

A good indication of what new hot talent the comedy world has in store for us this year was the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year awards which were held on Saturday. After several rounds of auditions at various comedy clubs across London, over 100 acts were whittled down to a final 16, judged by a panel of industry professionals after the show. Unsurprisingly, the scrupulous selection process meant that the quality of comedy was first rate. I wouldn't quite go as far as saying there were no turkeys as host Arthur Smith did but it was nonetheless a very high standard and an encouraging reflection of the diversity of the new kids on the block.

The second and third places were awarded to two stand-up acts from the first half: Seann Walsh and David James. Walsh played the young scruffy student with aplomb and had a great opening line about being mistaken for a tramp by a real tramp in King's Cross station. His set was almost faultless but a story at the end about a fire alarm at his girlfriend's house turned out to be a bit of a damp squib after a suspense-fuelled build-up. Apart from this he was a stand-out act and earned his place in second.

The most memorable performance in my mind, was David James, a smartly-dressed gentleman who with his grey-white moustache looked like a cross between Omar Sharif and Des Lynam. He told long stories with a dead-pan and slow delivery, not dissimilar to Stewart Lee but with a style totally of his own. His first story about Beethoven walking into an airport with a symphony manuscript under his arm and getting stopped at a 'no sharps' security check was ingenious. Surreal, intelligent and masterfully told, it was one of the highlights of the evening. A mix-up about cash-back at the supermarket produced just as many laughs but was technically a simple joke. It was to his merit that he could get such a response with mainly repetition and pause for effect.

A terrific act I thought might have been a runner-up were all-female sketch troupe Lady Garden. Usually with sketches there can be a few duds here and there but each new scene they performed demonstrated credible writing and innovative ideas. One sketch which had them all pretending to be Tesco's call centre girls selling everything from insurance to divorce settlements was clever and well-choreographed. While they may not have won the Hackney Empire award, it surely won't be long before they're on our screens; their act is perfect for television and, unlike a lot of groups out there, has a lot more to it than pure silliness.

Other noteworthy acts were Jon Kudlick who had a good point about just how much credit you can give the author of a children's book when they've only written a few rudimentary sentences onto a book made of plastic. 17-year-old Ahir Shah's opening joke: "I know what you're thinking – what's that kid from The Jungle Book doing on stage?", fell completely flat as he wrongly presumed all the audience would laugh along like the big old racists they were. He quickly recovered however and went on to tell some stronger jokes with a good balance of political and topical thought in there. Craig Murray had a great line in northern humour: "We don't have gays up north. Well we do but we call them vegetarians." Ross Ashcroft, a brilliant and very sharp compere at The Alpine Club, had some funny material about accent prejudice and being posh: "I love Tesco's. It keeps the riff raff out of Waitrose", but was too patchy on the night to win a place.

First place was awarded to Fergus Craig of sketch group Colin and Fergus who certainly deserved credit. He opened by saying he was struggling to find his comedic voice and went from a camp 'hiiiii' to a few lines of German spoken in a Belfast accent. A surprisingly funny gag and he really nailed the accent. He also mentioned the new Jim Carrey film Yes Man (where Carrey gets into all kinds of crazy japes by saying yes all the time) and how different it would be if it were applied to his life: "I'd just end up at the odd shit party or help a friend move house." An impressive act although I'd have been tempted to swap him and David James around.

So who were the turkeys? No one seriously bombed but Irish comedienne Grainne Maguire had some rather run-of-the-mill material including a gag about the irony of condoms next to pregnancy tests in pharmacies. It would have been hard for the Moonfish Rhumba's lesbian song to get any worse but then they asked the audience to join in, which involved some painfully quiet singing and rather limp hand-waving.

All in all, it was a very impressive night of comedy in the beautiful Hackney Empire, surely one of the most opulent theatre venues in London. Some incredible talent to watch out for this year and some that, with a bit of work, will be winning awards too.

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Emma