99 Up... at the 100 Club...

Well, this here's the 99th post on this blog (doesn't time fly, eh? No? Then I'll just sit down...) and fortunately I actually have something to blog about today, having spent a terrific night at Oxford Street's very own 100 Club (nearly right for the 99th blog post...) watching a terrific bill of live comedy. Sadly Tim Key was trapped overseas by Ash-gate, but Ed Byrne was drafted in as a last minute replacement.

Holding court in this legendary, intimate venue was Fergus Craig (of Colin & Fergus and Star Stories fame) recent winner of the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year Award for his stand-up show. "We have a genuinely phenomenal bill for you tonight." He explained. "Seriously, I've said that before and lied. It's genuinely phenomenal." He wasn't wrong.

First up was Jonny Sweet. Having heard him as Jared in the Radio 4 adaptation of Tom Basden's party I was eager to see what his live material was like and as we were treated to snippets from his debut solo show 'Mostly About Arthur' I was given an answer - Outstanding. Mostly About Arthur is, as one might imagine, about Arthur, Sweet's late brother and a renowned blurbist (writer of blurbs). Endeavouring to prove the mass appeal of his tale, he challenged an audience member. "Do you have a brother" Sweet signalled for the man to wait "have you ever heard of someone having a brother? And have you read a blurb/do you know what a blurb is? See, it's a universal story." With the aid of an incredibly effective stage persona, powerpoint and some of his brother's blurbs (including the magnificent, award-winning blurb for 'My Irish Life') he delivered a half hour of electric comedy.

After the first break it was Ed Byrne's turn to test some material for his new show (the odd tidbit recognisable from his appearances on Mock the Week) and the highlights being his attempt to tackle the thorny issue of immigration in Ireland ("Coming over here, taking our jobs. 'Cause that's the job of us Irish, you see, to move into other people's countries") and a tale of meeting the late Paul Winfield in Aspen and finding him not as enthused with his role in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as one might imagine. Straight after came Tom Basden, who was one of the major pulls for me to see this line-up. Having been an enormous fan of Basden through his Youtube videos, Cowards and various appearances I'm frankly amazed that it's taken me this long to actually get out and see him live. Needless to say he didn't disappoint and though some of the material was familiar to Basden fans such as myself, it was still terrifically funny. Multi-talented Basden treated us to songs, cartoons and my personal favourite, extracts from his novel, as well as attempting to get the crowd to sing Happy Birthday to his father and failing, poor chap. His stand-up in between was original and witty, particularly with regard to the novel.

After the second and final break it was time for the night's headline act, Adam Buxton, perhaps best known these days for his radio work and Youtube videos. His preparations for this gig had been hampered by the Icelandic volcano trapping him in Spain, during which he "put on about a stone of weight, eating tortillas and drinking cervezas". He did however have a good deal of material all presented from his Macbook. Folders included 'David Cameron's Policies' which was, naturally, empty, at which point Buxton leapt to his feet and pumped his fist. "Satire! Yes!" Buxton's was a truly technological set, making use of slow reveal Youtube comments, videos (of which the redubbing of the pre-Death Star assault speech from Star Wars with Steve Jobs unveiling the iPad was a triumph) and the odd bit of singing and rapping. Perhaps the biggest laughs came from his rehashing of the Grace Jones hit 'Pull Up to the Bumper', in which he did away with the innuendo and revealed the song for what it with hilarious consequences.

It was a truly outstanding lineup and it delivered on everything. A thoroughly good night out.