We crept down the stairs of Bierkeller to their German cavern. The low ceilings and long wooden pews stretching the length of the bar made the environment cosy.
But the innate stickiness of all surfaces meant I was pealing my forearms from the table each time I went to clap.
I suppose it added to it’s gritty charm.
With £5 for a pint and an intimidating row of German ales, we opted for the more economical and familiar bottle of Grigio complete with two plastic wine glasses.
A feature that was to be the butt of a later joke by Australian comic Mickey D.
We sat down to Colin Manford’s apologies that Jason was not available for the night, a joke that he’s probably exhausted of doing but it gets ‘em every time.
He took a while to warm up the crowd, but his combination of self-deprecation laced with an assortment of obscenities soon got the receptive audience of locals lifting their steins to him.
The first guest up was Mickey D who took to the stage naturally, easing everyone in with his Australian accent and mischievous smirk.
Of course he began with a few British jabs, the audience loved laughing at themselves for a while.
I particularly enjoyed his impression of the Birmingham accent that he’s had the pleasure of being surrounded by since his arrival in the UK.
His impersonation of a Brummy accent, which was essentially a whale-like drone, was painfully accurate and is still ringing in my ears.
Mickey D brought an edgy comedy that sometimes felt like it could have been more daring, but did not fail to bring in a reliable chuckle in the room.
The audience interaction in his set was playful and people reacted well to him stepping off the stage into the crowd.
We took our notes under the table for Penella Mellor’s endearingly offensive set after she recounted a few bad run-ins with critics that left a sour taste.
I’m on at the Bierkeller in Manchester tonight with my best mate Colin Manford … what could go wrong? Last… http://t.co/RXliAC7JgM
— Penella Mellor (@PenellaMellor) October 1, 2015
She was somewhat disappointed at the lack of complaints that her set brought last night, boasting that her vulgarity got her kicked off the last Manford comedy tour.
Plenty of comical anecdotes were brought up, beginning one with ‘kids are shit aren’t they?’ which got a knowing roar of laughter from the room.
After accidentally accusing her child’s teacher (who was in the audience) of being a paedophile, Mellor was quick to laugh it off and go back to slamming her children for ruining her vagina, a topic that was well-received.
As her set drew to an end, Mellor was more audacious, and although some anecdotes were slightly rushed, she warmed the crowd up well with some great one-liners and plucky local humour.
Manford was very comfortable on stage at this point and the banter in-between readied the audience well for the headline act, Dan Nightingale.
Nightingale jumped to mocking his appearance, the bald head on which he wore those bold glasses were a great ice-breaker.
He was a natural to the stage and was entertaining to watch as he comfortably bounced around.
His homely Lancashire accent made every joke funnier, and his constant prodding at the posh southern moral high ground brought more roaring laughter to the room with each plummy impersonation.
The audience were receptive to all the acts, but were also heavily relied upon throughout the show.
Particularly when one intrepid gentleman did the best impersonation of the Beyonce Single Ladies dance that I have seen, it was completely bewitching.
All in all a sticky and wondrous evening of jokes, jabs and almost-Jason!
Image courtesy of comedynightklubstandupkomedije via YouTube, with thanks.
