First up was Matt Hutchinson, a man of slow but assured manner who talked about how, as a doctor, he was happy at people getting sick as it kept in a job, and that his Jamaican dad was so middle class he cooked jerk pheasant. His delivery ensured that was a lot funnier than it sounds when I write it! Helen Bauer came next, a contrastingly rapid fire style about the perils of being a large woman when it came to clothes buying, and the kind of tears that only three bottles of wine could produce. She packed a lot into a few minutes.
Glaswegian Stephen Buchanan also had a laugh about his height, discoursing on the difficulties of being a short man on the internet, and what living with his mum and a refugee did for his image. His confidence shone through and he appeared the most experienced of the group. He was followed by Sarah Mann who looked much more nervous and suffered as result. But several of her jokes about being asexual and proud hit the spot. Last up was William Stone who had the most individual approach of the five. A slow, slow build up developed into a hilarious series of one lines and non sequiturs, and an sharply oblique view of life.
Watson came back on to fill in time whilst the judges made their decisions, clearly difficult to do from the length of time they were away (Mark saw their return with some relief as he was struggling to find material!). Bauer, Buchanan and Stone go through to the final, to be broadcast live on Radio 4 on 12 August. Of the three my favourite to take the award would be Buchanan, who seemed a more finished product than the others, but all five clearly have a future in comedy and the audience got an excellent show to watch.
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