Thursday 25th February

Having missed out on being able to take a day off work and go out with Dave and the gang on Matt's Jack the Ripper tour, I was pleased to get invited to go out with the girls in the evening. A little while ago some cards appeared at work advertising the local comedy club events. I had said that I wouldn't be able to go as I wanted to go to London. Once I had cleared the day with my manager, it was then pointed out to me that it was the 2nd to last working day of the month. It's not enough now that we have to invoice all sales to count in that month, we also have to deliver in the same month too. Someone had suggested that we could arrange Saturday deliveries but this is often not convenient for the customer and costs more. This would also mean that I would have to work extra hard on the Friday to catch up. Disappointedly, I decided to give this trip a miss. Anyway, enough of my moaning about work and on to the evening. There was a spare ticket available at the last minute. Did I want to go? £20 for a 2 course meal and entertainment. Of course I'd be there. I was picked up too which was a bonus. When we arrived we got our drinks in the bar and our tickets for dinner, etc., and went through to the marquee out the back. It was just a little bit worrying the way it blew about in the wind. I thought I was going to be freezing but it was a very posh marquee which was very well heated. After some confusion about where we were supposed to sit, we found a seating plan. Then we sat and waited for food which seemed to come out at random and you just stuck your hand up if you wanted what they were carrying. Those that wanted beef stroganoff were OK, those that wanted the chicken “whatever-it-was” had a long wait. We'd finished eating the stroganoff before the chicken dinners got to the tables. Rather than wait for table service for drinks we went to the bar between courses as it seemed quicker. When we got back we got our desserts. The choice was fruit salad or waffle and ice-cream. I had the waffle. It's a good thing I like rum and raisin ice-cream. I thought it was a brave choice for the caterers. The evening was billed as 3 comedians. The first one was Ryan McDonnell, the compère, Cole Parker was the first act and Paul Pirie was the main act. All 3 were good but if I had to choose, then I think it would be Cole Parker, although Paul Pirie was the only to bring on tears of laughter. I felt though that Paul shouted too much and he kept touching members of the audience too which was weird. There were a group of guys right at the front, one in particular wouldn't stop talking to the comedians and Paul kept shouting back. He climbed off the back of the stage and came out underneath it to have an friendly argument with the guy without the microphone. As usual, my poor little brain can't remember many of the jokes, only “never give a midget a yo-yo”; “wouldn't you like to go into an estate agents with a gun and say 'nobody move'”; and when a waiter walked in front the stage one said 'don't worry about it, it's just a stage you're going through!'” I've been checking them out on You-Tube. I've only found a decent clip of Ryan. I will continue my search on the others and edit this if I can find any good ones. Ryan McDonnell - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9SAVHMQsUc