What’s the difference between a kettle and Mother Theresa? The kettle’s still warm! If that is the kind of joke that makes you giggle then the comedy night at O’ Neills in St. Albans is right up your street. And that was just a joke from the audience!?
 | | John Mawer |
As we walked in we were greeted with a candlelit atmosphere that put us at ease and after getting change from 15 quid for two meals and drinks I was definitely in the mood to smile. Compere John Mawer was first on and he did the best he could with what was a fairly lukewarm crowd to start with. He bounced around like a disgruntled Jesus and worked real modern day miracles on a packed pub full of people with the Monday blues. The user generated Mother Theresa joke went down a storm and all I can say is that some tables worked harder than others. Shame on you, you know who you are! Unrepeatable
 | | Michael Fabbri |
Michael Fabbri was the first turn and after a slow start, his take on how to use jam jar hats on other grocery items and door to door atheists got me giggling. The highlight was his opinion on the birth of Jesus and the Virgin Mary - hilarious, clever, sick and completely unrepeatable! The second act of the night, James Kettle, was supposedly new to the stand up scene but you couldn’t tell. Like a cross between Simon Amstell and Bill Hicks, his dark twisted and deadpan take on life had me laughing throughout. He came onto the stage and said he had two hobbies, contemplating his inevitable death and drinking enough to stop him crying. He split the audience but I loved him and think he’s got great potential as he cleverly turned a normal and probably true story from his everyday life into a bizarre and hilarious scenario. Joe Bor came on just as I’d finished my meal and his observational comedy reminded me of Adam Bloom and he had some good gags. His many voices and routine on rugby was ideal for the St Albans crowd and it went down a storm.
 | | James Kettle |
At this point I looked around and the venue had really filled up for the main act and I was really impressed by it all thus far. I also found it funny that the stage was in front of the disabled toilet. Not only bad accessibility - but imagine if someone had to use it during a set?!! Strange The compere met some strange folk in the audience between the acts, the best being an environmental health officer that could tell one poo from another. She should go on You Bet with a skill like that! And then we got to the main act of the night. Geoff Norcott bounced on stage in his jeans and white t-shirt to great applause and he showed why he was top of the bill. His routine swerved between fantastic local gags about Luton and what a naff saint St Alban actually was, to his vet’s bad beside manner when his cat got diagnosed with Aids. I kid you not!
 | | Joe Bor |
He came across as a confident geezer that aimed to put the world to rights in his fast paced 20 minute set. The part about not caring about global warming got one of the biggest laughs of the night as he continued to show how we can make this country warmer! Highlight His impression of Gollum from Lord of the Rings even made my girlfriend laugh (she hates the book and film!) and as he acted out the scariest detention ever it was obvious he had the audience in the palm of his hand. He then proceeded to highlight how middle class the St Albans audience was except it was clear that this wasn’t the case. The girl who had to leave halfway through to help out her boyfriend who had locked himself out missed out because he just got better and better, with his set pieces seamlessly interspersed with lightning fast comebacks and his audience interaction gave the set a nice change of pace in the second half.
 | | Geoff Norcott interacts! |
Then before we knew it that was it .... our first Funny First Monday had ended. I know that everyone I spoke to afterwards was really impressed and would be coming back next month .... as should you. Good food, good drink, good laughs and a cracking venue. What more could you ask for? Can I also add that as O'Neills look set to continue to throb after we left, every pub we passed on the way to the car park looked pretty empty. So, it was not only a great and mutually beneficial combined effort from St Albans Arts and O'Neill's, but it also showed that laughter is probably the best medicine for Monday night's in St Albans! | 
