The Birthday Party

Last year's bash was a fantastic night, rounded off by a superb performance fron Ivan Brackenbury. For many there it was their first experience of the Brackenbury Roadshow so could Ivan pull it off again without the element of surprise? The answer was a resounding 'YES'!

A warm evening was made even hotter by a bumper crowd, and it was like the Black Hole of Calcutta at times but the atmosphere was as hot as the temperature, despite Malcolm's appearance without his wig this time.

Alan set the scene nicely and built on his winning performance at his Wigan night I attended, where Justin Moorhouse was headlining. Alan works on confidence and he had it at the birthday night, even given the continued absence of his foil, Street.

The evening began well with Alfie Moore, a policeman who does comedy. Yes you read correctly - obviously some of them do have a sense of humour. Alfie had some good stuff based on his experiences and managed to convince the audience that not all coppers are ... er ... the same. Some of his stuff was a bit samey but it was a very good start to the evening. Alfie was followed by Ben Lawes, looking like Louis Theroux's slightly beefed-up brother. Ben's material was pretty observational stuff and he had some good stuff about gyms and the ugliness of Man Utd players. Ben went down very well and raised the bar for the headline act.

I was a little concerned that having seen the show last year that I may be a bit blase about seeing the same again but I was wrong. Basically the same concept but with newer material, it worked again. The delivery is so important and it was spot on. The audience lapped it up and I thought a couple of people might have a seizure they were laughing so much (hello Rob).

Another great evening that lived up to the hype and at tleast matched the Ian Cognito night that preceded it. Ivan would like to return for our next birthday bash and I don't think, on this showing, that many would complain.