Little White Horse
Burnley
03-07-26
Lily Crowholes is a proper entertainer – whose mystic-ting’d singing voice has been charming music-lovers about the North West in recent years. Then one of her mates said to her, Lily you’re well funny you are, so she join’d ‘Ultra Comedy’ for some schooling, strode right into the bear pit of stand-up comedy & came out smiling with a genuine voice. She’s also a natural ‘bringer-of-people-togetherer’, & has manag’d to persuade a swathe of comedians from the region to come to sunny Burnley & compete against each other in an entertaining format.
Each one of the eight or nine comedians gets 10 spotlight minutes to wow we the audience, the funniest of whom is decided by a clap-off decibel reading at the end, when we the audience show our appreciation with applause & hollers for each of the comedians. Last night’s winner was Jamie-Diane Rajaram , a tourette-sprinkl’d trans woman with a bullet-spitting spitfire of a filthy set.
Act one began with Hannah Monsoon, who swore herself into a confident & flourishing finale of squinting sympathy swipes. Next was Tom Barker, my personal fave, a master of the drollean quip only addicted to chocolate because he cannot afford a coke addiction. The first act concluded with Roland Gent, whose pun-spurring funny bone is rooted in a mind which sees the modern porn star’s predilection for shaving as something more akin to genital alopecia.
Act two began with Jack Palmer, an adorable, ‘Beat the Frog’ winning lad with his feet firmly, & comfortably, pinn’d to the public comedy floor still, but showing potential for some genuinely funny insights. Next up was Joey Bridgens, a seminally Scouse lassie straddling the Gen Z-Millennial border without identifying with any. The second act concluded with with Joe Gurski, a self-titl’d ‘queer’ who found the names of the boyfriend’s posh mates – Jasper, Hunter – more like those of a pack of dogs
The final act began with the entire crowd all singing along to Teenage Dirtbag – Burnley was buzzing, & fully appreciative of the efforts all the comedians had made in travelling to East Lancashire – the NW version of Siberia. Then stepp’d up, all effeminate with an occasional miner-deep voice, the night’s eventual winner, Jamie-Diane Rajaram. She was class, actually, who on being diagnos’d with ‘Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder’, was finally given medical justification for being ‘a c*nt.’ After Jamie came Dave Rowlands, whose Jack-the-Scouse set could well have won on another night – I was dead comfy sat in the meta-proverbial pub with him & his mates, hanging on his every word. as he held comedy court.
After one final refuelling session, it was time for the enthusiastic clap-off. Someone had to be a winner, I suppose, but the real winners were we the audience, who were at something akin to a 5 course meal; Lily’s crowdwork being the hors d’oevre, the 8 comedians the salads, appetisers, soups, fish, meats, etc – then the award-bestowing, clap-happy dessert dish at the end.
So roll on the next Nutter’s Cauldron. Lily elucidated the format to the Mumble by saying, ” we do a clap off at the end of each one and winner goes through to end of year show on 18th December. The people who have bought tickets through 2026 will get first refusal for the final show. And every ticket purchased gets you into a draw to win a ticket to the final.”
I, for one, am now hook’d, & will be following the progress of the competition laugh by hysterical laugh.
Damo
Nutter’s Cauldron
First Friday of the month
The Little White Horse,
Hammerton St, Burnley
