Amy Annette, Emmanuel Sonubi & Paddy Young in - New Order

Emmanuel Sonubi opened this three-act bill with a highly interactive set about the woes of parenting. As a Disney musical-loving former bouncer, Sonubi’s vibe is a little hard to put your finger on – and certain jokes he made, at the expense of teacher’s aides, fell flat. But he made good with the goldmine he discovered in the front row – a couple on their second date – and got the show off to a positive start.

Amy Annette is the kind of person for whom words like “chique” roll effortlessly off the tongue. Annette brought her cheeky side-ways glances and extravagantly French pronunciations to discussions of body shaming, British idiosyncrasies and collective nouns. She was up against it from the beginning after stumbling upon a cohort of wanna-be-comedian audience members during her crowd work. It made me wonder what the collective noun for annoying smart alecs was. 

In the show’s final twenty minutes, Paddy Young gave a masterclass in misdirection. He knew only too well that the Melbourne crowd would fall into empathetic line when he expressed outrage at his landlady owning eight properties. He also knew we’d be shocked to hear him re-contextualise this as an equal rights issue: “If she were a man, she’d have twelve!” Young’s confidence on-stage and embrace of silence made for a strong conclusion to this showcase of British talent.