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THE flames of comedy were burning brightly, if not a touch painfully, in Candles restaurant at the Dilmun Club at the weekend during the latest staging of its Funny Bone night.
Steven Davidson was once again host for the evening and, as always, handled the crowd with confidence and a sense of familiarity. In fact, he lamented that his fellow Scotsman Angus wasn’t in attendance this time around.
Davidson has a charm about him that endears him to the crowd and, it doesn’t hurt that he’s incredibly funny too.
After recognising my girlfriend and I from previous shows, he pointed us out to make sure the other comedians knew who to pick on … but not before mentioning that GulfWeekly is his favourite newspaper on the island.
The first performer on stage was Billy Kirkwood, a Scot who is either completely off his rocker or has the finest, most well rehearsed set I’ve ever seen, either way, I was in stitches.
The feisty character with hair as wild as his personality was on fine form and had the crowd roaring when he made an impromptu boy band from members of the audience. However, his finest moment came when the Dilly’s Alec Peck fluffed the soundtrack and Billy took matters into his own hands.
I really enjoyed his interactions with the crowd, particularly with the two Bahraini girls in the front row, one of whom he affectionately referred to as Jim because he couldn’t pronounce her name.
His joke about a giraffe giving birth is something I will forever try, probably unsuccessfully, to reenact at parties.
Next up was Stephen Carlin, another Scot with a wit so dry it could have started a forest fire and so deadpan that I don’t think the rest of the crowd really ‘got it’. I, however, was cracking up, especially when he very convincingly explained the difference between humans, bananas and beverages.
I especially liked his bit about how people tend to swear they will start up a business with a stranger after a few drinks.
Rounding off the evening in impeccable style was Patrick Monahan, a cheeky Irishman who seemed to be in awe of the Bahrain lifestyle … particularly not locking our doors.
He didn’t really seem to have much use for rehearsed material and relied heavily on audience interaction, which worked to his credit.
Also, he had the best entrance I’ve ever seen, dancing up to the stage and taking time to hug almost everyone in the crowd on his way there.
When he eventually jumped on stage with a backward leap he invited the club’s chairman Martin Allison to copy him. Have-a-go Martin attempted a similar entrance but unfortunately landed painfully on his leg to rapturous applause.
Patrick also had some great banter with Alec who, once again, seemed to be a focal point for a lot of the gags.
All-in-all another overwhelming success for Funny Bone and I can’t wait to see who is performing at the next event after Ramadan.
