Wannabe stand-ups play it for laughs as six reach Comedy Champ final

Jul 13 2008 By Steve Hendry

HEARD the one about the ginger diving suit tester or the disabled dad who calls himself Mohammed Macbeth?

They're among the six great fledging comics who dared and won through to the finals of the Sunday Mail's Comedy Champ at the Edinburgh Festival.

Our contest has gone from bad to mirth as we sorted the rising stars of stand-up from those who were, frankly, a bit of a joke.

Our finalists will now compete in a showcase during the Fringe Festival with the winner securing a place in the final of So You Think You're Funny - the Gilded Balloon's famous comedy contest hosted by Bill Bailey.

Previous winners include Peter Kay, Greg Hemphill and Lee Mack.

Our final six impressed the judges - author and comedian Janey Godley, the Gilded Balloon's Fraser Smith and SYTYF producers Julia Chamberlain and Frehd Southern - at Maggie May's club in Glasgow's Trongate last week.

With a crowd made up of friends, family and a few rogue Orangemen everyone had to perform a six-minute stint - and try to drown out the drums of a passing Orange parade.

First up was dad-of-three John Gavin, of Hamilton - secretly entered by his wife Shelly.

He said: "I'm still shaking - it was the longest six minutes of my life.

"Every single story I told was true. It's just the general mentalness of my family."

Ben Verth, 24, of Edinburgh will be appearing at this year's Fringe as part of university revue show That Needs Cleaning but first he has his eye on our Comedy Champ prize. He said: "I enjoyed doing it and hope the audience enjoyed watching it."

Mohammed Ashraf, 40, of Clackmannan, proved a hit with his near-theknuckle quips - X-rated by comparison with the jokes he tells on the Comedy Champ website as Mohammed Macbeth.

Thedad-of-three said: "I'm disabled so there's not much income coming in. I would love to be able to make a living at stand-up."

Engineer Chris Stephen, of Aberdeen, tests diving suits for the Navy for his day job but has just started performing with the group Comedy Capers.

He started by making a joke about his red hair before anyone else could, leaping on stage to announce it was "ginger time".

Chris, 23, said: "I mucked up a bit. I can do better."

Glasgow builder Jim Mullan, 43, might be Irishborn but did not trot out a single Irish gag. He said: "I just wanted to do something different."

Our last finalist - Brian Mooney, 49, of Clydebank - proved accountants can be funny.

He said: "When I saw the competition in the Sunday Mail I thought I would go for it. The only thing you have to lose is your dignity."

Judge Fraser Smith said: "It's a very brave thing to get up on stage and try to be funny."

SUNDAY EMAIL

s.hendry@sundaymail.co.uk