laugh and the world laughs with you

So farewell to another Liverpool Comedy Festival, waved off last night with the now customary Best of Liverpool night.
This year the evening was held at the Royal Court rather than its usual home the Philharmonic Hall.

And as I said in my review in today's Echo, it made a big difference.
Because although I love the Phil as a venue, it doesn't really lend itself to a night of unbridled merriment and mirth. It just seems a bit, well, adult for all that.
So we decamped to the home of Rawhide with audience members enjoying a dish of Scouse before the show and plenty of beer during it.
A few of us gathered for a drink in the bar downstairs beforehand where Suzanne Collins was regaling us with her trip on the Mersey Ferry to launch the 08 Card last week.
We've been using a picture of a smiling Suzanne holding the card for our stories about it, but she revealed that just out of shot her little girl was having a tantrum and she was smiling through the camera through gritted teeth and hoping the photographer would get a move on.
Silky and Stanley McHale were propping up the bar, and somehow Silky (showing his Parisien holiday snaps around on his phone) and I started debating what the French word for chutney would be.
He later got up on stage and sang the ditty Nightclub Sex Grannies.
Lovely.
Micky Finn was also in the bar talking about his memories of Bernard Manning.
I got a call from Micky this afternoon wanting to thank me for my review which mentioned how he had been a highlight of the first half - but it was all true. I think Chris, Keith, Bren and the others are very funny, but Micky Finn hit the observational nail on the head about current life in Liverpool.
I particularly enjoyed his comment that the city centre resembled a giant Meccano kit and that he'd had to roll a six to get out of Lime Street.......I myself sat on a bus in Lime Street for an inordinate amount of time the other day because the traffic light sequence just can't cope and thought "what the hell have they done to this place?"
I also hugely enjoyed Liz Carr's set in the second half. Someone said to me they found it quite uncomfortable and was it OK for someone with a disability to take the mickey out of disabled people?
Well, people can't laugh at themselves - whoever they are and whatever they are dealing with - then what's the world coming to? She wasn't self-pitying, she wasn't nasty about others, she was just very funny......particularly about having to wear children's clothes.
She said: "Don't little girls dress like sluts these days? It's great for me" or words to that effect.
The Royal Court/Rawhide lot were meeting to discuss next year's Liverpool Comedy Festival - the Capital of Culture year one.
A lot will be expected of them so let's hope they can deliver.
Incidently, Chris Cairns and other comedians are doing the 24-hour three peaks challenge this weekend for charity, accompanied by a camera crew and armed only with a sense of humour (we'll see how long that lasts) and copious amounts of Kendal Mint Cake.