Dan Willis Presents: Northern Talent

Dan Willis is a pleasing compere. If he couldn't get enough Scottish and Northern English comedians to fill this hour, he'd surely breeze through the show without need for recourse to his other material. It's up to his guests to get edgy if they want to.

The opening spot goes to Mark Wilson, a decent teller of shaggy lad stories who doesn't take them to too many places they haven't been before, but knows how to earn his laughs. Craig Campbell promises much but delivers little as he plays on Glaswegian violence.

Much more interesting are Simon Donald, best known for co-founding Viz comics, and Rachel Anderson from Hartlepool. Anderson starts in with a rather underwhelming line in running herself down and calling on the audience's sympathies before launching into song, which continues with her low self-esteem theme and has the delightful chorus line "piss on my tits and don't feel bad". Soon the whole audience are singing along and waving their hands in the air.

Donald's ability to create character didn't stop at Viz. Tonight he is Barry Twyford, a Geordie census-taker with a few questions for the audience. They are completely outrageous and asked in such a pure deadpan manner that an answer has to be given. Superb, inventive comedy. After which John Smith's playing on the worst Geordie stereotypes just seems lazy and lame.