Gloom Aid.

Blue Monday. It's supposedly the gloomiest day of the year and it was living up to its reputation until the evenings entertainment, Gloom Aid. The event was organised to raise money for the Depression Alliance and featured many a comedy and musical act including Mark Watson (compére), Alex Horne, Robin Ince, Frisky and Mannish, DJ Danny, Angelos Epithemiou, John Hegley and Mark Morris.

I've never seen Mark Watson comére before and thought he was absolutely brilliant in this role (his audience banter was superb). He said in his latest blog that he thinks he's getting better at his job as time goes by and I couldn't agree more.

Alex Horne is a rather wonderful stand-up comedian, it's quite a shame that he doesn't do much of it these days. I liked his material about using punctuation gestures during conversation and his Justin Timberlake style beat-box (which reminded me of the 'I Need A Little Time' YouTube clip he did with Tim Key and Tim Minchin's 'So Fucking Rock').

A pretty standard Robin Ince set, which is always a laugh. He made me smile so much when he wondered onstage in his coat and explained that he still had it "because he couldn't find a hook to hang it on".

DJ Danny is Chris Cox if Chris wasn't a magician and a Radio 1 producer, but a DJ and high-school teacher. An enjoyable set which finished with him mixing songs that you wouldn't expect to be mixed. Surprisingly good.

I think John Hegley is one of my favourite entertainers; poems, music, sillyness, quirk... what's not to like? I loved his song about Guillemots (he pulls some awesome shapes during this song).

Mark Morris from the Blutones closed the evening with special guest Matt Berry. I knew not of the Bluetones, nor of Mark Morris, but enjoyed the acoustics nevertheless.

A thought.

Do cool people have to work hard at being cool, or does it just come naturally?