Not so tickled

With most of the advertising targeting the Freshers, Monday’s Big Tickle comedy evening seemed to have slipped past the rest of the college unnoticed. Despite this, the predominantly fresher based audience gave the comics plenty to work with. Where else, but Imperial, would a debate over whether a pterodactyl (or more correctly, a pterosaur) is a dinosaur or a ring tone of R2-D2’s beeps and whistles get truly appreciated?

Adlibbing aside, however, the evening was pretty uneventful. Compère Mark Smith, Luke Honnoraty, and headliner Ed Gamble all struggled to keep the momentum going – the applause died before Ed could even make it to the mic. With a large chunk of the audience being international, some of the material seemed a poor choice – although the evening was a good introduction to the British sense of humour, which may yet prove helpful as they start their courses.

Billed by the Union as “some of the best young comedy stars”, they got it right on the head. Mark and Luke seemed to struggle though their material and even the headliner, Ed Gamble, resorted to an impromptu rapport with a stoned member of the audience to keep his set going.

Despite all this, the event had a good audience and bodes well for future comedy here at Imperial – something that we appear to trail other universities on. At £3 the event was fairly priced, although if the Union wants to fill up similar events in the future, it should look to extending its advertising to a wider range of potential punters.