The Comedy Reserve

There’s something inherently wrong with this format. Sold as 2013’s most promising standups, the four acts in this year’s Comedy Reserve have been chosen by the Pleasance so that we might sample the talent of the future. In truth, these soulless shared bills are just the most recent in the established industry steps between open spot and an official Fringe ‘debut’. There’s no passion in these packages and at £8.50 a ticket on a punt, the promise of seeing the next Jack Whitehall doing his best 20 minutes just isn’t enough to draw any kind of crowd. Unsurprisingly the atmosphere is stale, giving each of these acts an insurmountable challenge, a wall of silence to throw their everything at.

First up is tonight’s compere Tom Toal, a likeable enough guy with natural charm who aims low with the difference between American and UK sayings and a forgettable piece about Primark trousers. Not remotely warmed up, the crowd are quickly presented with Tez Ilyas, who has nicely honed comic timing but disappoints with a done-to-death spoonerism of popcorn and cop-porn that is so old it was once a plotline on One Foot in the Grave.

Canadian John Hastings bounds on and takes command – his confidence dazzles but wears thin as his affected delivery becomes grating. Finally, Jack Barry satisfies with some interesting observations on the Crips and Bloods gangs and a pleasing, assured presence. None of these acts could be expected to shine in this room, the ticket price sets expectations too high for this level of content and we left largely unfulfilled.