Alternative Comedy Memorial Society. New Red Lion.

Organised and hosted by John-Luke Roberts and Thom (Luke) Tuck, this was the first of many Alternative Comedy Memorial Society gigs at the New Red Lion. The plan is that comedians can come and try out "hilarious invention" - stand-up that is a little bit different from the norm. The first line-up included the likes of Elis James, Terry Saunders, David McNeill and Lawry Lewin, William Andrews, Tom Bell, Nadia Kamil, Jigsaw (sketch from Nat Luurtsema, Tom Craine and Dan Antopolski) and Tony Law.

I haven't laughed so hard and so much in ages; not a bad word will be said about it. After every act Thom or John-Luke would say "a failure" to which the audience would respond with "a noble failure" and only 3 heckles were permitted, one of which being "we appreciate what you're trying to do".

Nadia was introduced as Nadia Kamil Pretending To Be A Penis Pretending To Be Another Thing (a fish) and Will was introduced as Will Andrews Has a Thing On His Head. I hope this means that they will both have a fortnightly spot - SO FUNNY. Andrews' material about setting his watch fast so he'd no longer by late was inspired.

Elis did his whole set in Welsh, Terry Saunders encouraged the audience to boycott Barclays by stealing pens, David McNeill and Lawry Lewin told us how nunchuckas have, somewhat, ruined their lives, a masked Tom Bell danced around while handing out pieces of Yorkie to women, Jigsaw showcased their new sketches (I particularly liked the chat line sketch - "tell me how local you are!") and Tony Law did some hilarious improv about the venue which segued into a tale about a bus ride with his young twins.

In the intervals when we weren't being treated to live music or drawing things that would be common in the future (half a squid was my favourite), we taste-tested salted chocolate ice cream in an attempt to find out what food is "hilariousest". On top of all these larks, the remaining comedians read through a transcript of a Captain Planet episode before the headline act.

What an incredible evening. Photos by Daimond Geyser.

A thought.

Good comedy makes me so, soooo, SO happy.