Irishman Daniel Duffy is the comedy creation of Michael Stranney. He has already made a few waves in other competitions, but I was a bit worried that he wasn’t going to click here. His early lines clocked up polite chuckles rather than guffaws. The difficulty was that Duffy is an idiot apparently obsessed with talking cats from China with massive knees and the crowd did not quite know what to make of him. Things went better with stories of his dim friends such as Brian, who didn't ever get any Xmas presents because his parents believed in Santa. Gradually Duffy gathered momentum and got everyone onside. He seemed better than last time I saw him and has shaken off the Father Dougal comparisons. I would imagine if this was a judge's decision he would do very well indeed, but I’m not sure if he notched up enough support to bag first prize from radio listeners. They also might be confused about who to vote for because of his two names.
Russ Peers is definitely not to be confused with Canadian superstar Russell Peters. I wonder if anyone has bought tickets by mistake. He is from Barrow-in-Furness but sounds like he is glad to be away from there – according to Peers it’s a place best known for heavy industry and heavy pastries and probably not the best place for a gay man to grow up. If his routines were true his mother deserves a writing credit - the best jokes were mis-worded texts his mum sent him while on holiday. He did have a good way with a verbal image himself though. On the subject of skinny jeans, if you are a little on the podgy side you’ll end up looking like an “upturned chicken drumstick”.
Yuriko Kotani made an impression on me at So You Think You’re Funny? in August and she worked her magic on the Comedy Store audience too, getting a quick laugh out of the fact that there were no Japanese people in the audience because they were all at work. Her perspective coming from such an ordered, industrious country made the funnies flow – such as when she saw a British train poster claiming that it was a good thing that trains were almost punctual. Back home trains are “proper on time on time”. Though actually she likes UK inefficiency. She said she prefers to live here because of the word “-ish” which doesn’t exist in the Japanese language. She tried it with her mother and prompted a mix of confusion and rage. The outsider status worked well with the audience – and with the listeners at home. The last shall come first – Kotani was voted winner.
