The lights go down and the music fades as Eric Trundy welcomes everyone and introduces the show's host, Jennie Stencel!
With relatively little ado, we jump right into the show and our first comic, Jack Belliveau! The show gets off to a genial start, with Jack charming the audience and picking up the energy in the room. It is easy to warm up to this mohawked family man. (Though I can't help but wonder if the WWE is /missing one of Sheamus' stunt doubles...). This is a man who knows what he wants (to be seen as a giant..) and how to achieve it (babies... and a thriving miniature pony farm). Being slightly goofier than one would think upon first view, Jack goes through his set with a warmth and charm that is impossible to resist. It is a great way to start off the show.
Next up is Justin Scranton! Showing the same level of charm as Jack, but in a much more 'aw, shucks' manner, Justin easily grabs on to the energy left over from the first comic and quickly proceeds to shape it as he wishes. The aw shucks manner belies a very smart and sharp performer who is also adept at winning over the crowd.
It turns out that the audience is eager to laugh and is very appreciative of the comedic efforts.
Next up is a comic that I am very familiar with, yet always seems to take me by surprise, James Hodge! The last time I saw James, his set was more mellow and more personal than any I had seen before and I wondered of that has carried over. Within mere seconds, it was obvious that it had not. With a focus on topical issues instead of the personal, James' set had an aggressiveness that almost takes my breath away. I know that sounds bad, but the effect was anything but bad. Combining some razor sharp lines with moments of mind twisting imagery, you get swept up in his wake. Also, by throwing in moments of self deprecating insight, it makes the aggressiveness almost endearing. He starts to a bit of nervous laughter, but by the time he is finished, loud appreciative humor and applause sees him off.
The lucky comic to follow that is Eric Selenschek. As he takes the mic, Eric comes across as very personable. His personality serves him well as he follows up James' set with one focusing on much more conservative material. While the audience didn't respond well, to the conservative humor, they did to the comic himself. When he turned to more personal material the crowd warmed up to him considerably. He made very good use of the positive responses to finish his set strongly. There is a lot of potential with this one.
Next up is David Decareaux! As he goes through his set, I find it difficult to put into words the fine points and details of it. As he finishes, I am not any closer. I am not saying that he is a bad comic as he had several bits that readily drew laughter. It is just that the set leaned rather heavily to the random side. This is unfortunate because it tends to make it rather difficult to judge a comic's overall ability. With the reaction ellicited by various bits, it shows that with a bit of focusing, he could be a serious player on the local com3edy scene for some time to come. I look forward to seeing what the future has in store for him on the mic.
Coming up next is Stephen Hamlett! He seems kind of at a loss as to how to handle the weird energy in the room, and tries several subjects to see how they would play. There was an obvious bit of frustration on his face as he worked through bit after bit, However, when he hit one that drew the audience out once again, the look of relief and the leap in his personal energy was very obvious.As he continued on wwith this train of thought, his confidence level and the audience's comfort level towards skyrocketed. The charisma and his writing ability came to the forefront and he seemed to have won the crowd over. As he finished his last bit, the crowd responded with loud laughter and applause. It was great to see someone handle a situation that could have been so damaging and not only waethered it, he beat it. I am proud of, and impressed with, him.
The next comic to hit the stage pretty, Tank Smith much won the corwd over in a few words. Tank brought sucha high energy level and good naturedness to the mic and the effect on the crowd was almost instantaneous. He had people smiling as well as laughing throughout his set. He is a nice breath of fresh air cutting through the nervous energy pervading the room.
Coming up next and taking full advantage of the newly revived energy in the room is PhillipWarren. I will admit, in the past I have been fairly ambivalent towards Phillip's performances in the past. I never could really put my finger on what it was. It took one of the strongest performances of the last three competitions to remind me and show that he had mastered them. I won't even try to describe what he was wearing, but I will say if there are any pictures of the night, check them out. That wasn't one of the reasons, but it still makes me laugh to think about it.In the past, where he might come across as daring the crowd to like him, this time Phillip seemed to welcome the crowd in and he seemed to feed off their energy each time it ramped up and used it to build an even higher, tighter routine. This was the tightest, most committed-to routine I have ever seen him do. The one time when it seemed he might crack, he caught himself and made it seem like he meant to do it. His impression of MLK Jr. was spot on and there was not a bit of a sense of mockery or disrespect in it. It is always the best thing to me when I get to see a fellow comic hit their stride, and this is one of the biggest and best versions of that, that I can remember. This is a case of being in the presence of greatness. And I am very happy I was here to see it.
The randomizer must be congratulated again. In one of those amazing moments where a perfect storm is created, following up Phillip's set with Maddie Weiner's. Again, there is no way to plan for such a thing to happen in a competition. but when it happens, it is undeniable.
I am a fan of Maddie's and have been since I first saw her perform, but she was a bit of a puzzle to me. She is kind of a more laid back, charming, quieter performer yet she tends to do very aggressive and possibly offsetting topics. To me , there was a bit of a disconnect between performer and material. Tonight something is different about her even as she steps up to the mic. Maybe she had planned it out like it ended up. Maybe it was just catching hold of the lightning left over from Phillip's set. I just know that there is not one bit of disconnect in her set tonight. She is very aggressive without losing her charm and charisma. If anything, the contrast kind of intensified both. (yeah, weird I know, but it is what it is). And what made it better, for me at least (and as I think about it, the same can be said for Warren's set), is the look of utter joy and power on her face as the set continues. (though, in Warren's case, his came as he was finishing his set)
My arms are sore from clapping and my sides hurt from laughing, both carryovers from both of the last two sets.
So how do you follow up both of those? If you are the last act of the show, you do it your own way. You don't try to match the other sets, because it would be bad to do so and miss. If you are Brian Burns, you give the audience a lrge dose of understated charm and sharp comedic writing delivered with aplomb. In a couple of performances, his understated style actually helped the performers before and after shine a bit more, taking the focus off of him a bit. This time, with the benefit of the wild energy coursing through the room, he was able to make himself shine as much as it added an extra bit of shine to the two prior performances (in terms of the audience going back over each as they fill out their ballots). This set is Brian intensified and a perfect ending to a very good show.
As we go pretty much straight to the ballot counting and then the announcement of those going on, I shall do the same here.
Moving on to the Wild Card Round via comic vote:
BRIAN BURNS
Moving on to the 2nd Round via audience vote:
MADDIE WIENER
PHILLIP WARREN
TANK SMITH
JUSTIN SCRANTON
CONGRATULATIONS TO THOSE ADAVANCING AND TO THE OTHER COMICS WHO HELPED MAKE THIS A GREAT SHOW:
JACK BELLIVEAU
ERIC SELENSCHEK
JAMES HODGE
DAVID DECAREAUX
STEPHEN HAMLETT
IF YOU GET A CHANCE TO SEE THESE OR ANY OF THE OTHER COMICS COMPETEING IN THE UCC, PLEASE DO! SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMEDY SCENE, THE COMICS AND WONDERFUL COMEDY VENUES SUCH AS THE IDIOT BOX!
:) UCC-X!!!!
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