REVIEW: Beat The Frog - The Frog And Bucket, Manchester.

I’d never been to a Beat The Frog night before but was aware that winning one kick-started Peter Kay’s professional career. In simple terms it’s a new talent night  The evening is a popular student night with discount beer and great value pizzas. The club was a busy hub of young and trendy twenty somethings in couples and groups all ready and eagerly anticipating an evening’s entertainment from some potentially funny and up and coming stand up comedians. Very brave to get up to an audience and throwing yourself under a bus and some of the comedians nerves were palpable.

The premise is to stay on stage for 5 minutes without being green-carded (think X Factor crosses) from members of the audience who’d been picked beforehand to be a representative sample of who should and shouldn’t stay on the mic .

To get us in the mood the opening sequence of a thumping backing track of Eminem’s song ‘One Shot’ played out reminding the audience you only get one chance, one moment, one opportunity.

Tonight’s compere was the enthusiastic, effervescent and hilarious Dan Nightingale who connected fabulously with the audience, explained the proceedings then recalled a plethora of anecdotal stories. He commanded the whole evening with wit, sharp repartee and was side-splittingly funny. I would pay just to watch him. A very entertaining man. My favourite story from him being the 2012 Manchester Riots which started in Salford where the looters raided a Cash Convertor not wanting to go too far from home. He was in Manchester that evening at the movies where the riots were happening and was holed up at an Odeon cinema. The recount of the camp cinema usher advising him to leave through the rear entrance of Nando’s because it was so bad that ‘Miss Selfridge is on fire’ absolutely tickled me for the rest of the evening. He nicknamed the riots Scallymageddon. His banter with the audience was light-hearted and although poking fun at people’s occupations and accents was non offensive.

To begin there were a couple of eight minute warm-up sets; first from a Lithuanian comic who poked fun at his nationality and being constantly confused with being Polish and exchanging his labour for local currency and after him, a black comedian called Michael who poked fun at a busker immitating Michael Jackson outside a children’s hospital. Both were well received.

After the break, 3 audience members were chosen to be the Frog card holders to decide if and when the audience vote the acts off as appropriate. Memorable contributions from Mike Jarman who gave a vivid description of social media addicts with lots of children with their open-ended statements and his friend who liked to take his girlfriend to the KFC for the lemon-scented wipes. The other memorable act was Adam Slater, a ginger-headed Ed Sheeran look-a-like who said he’d been told his whole life that he had a face only a mother could love and that was such as a shame as he only had two dads. Only a few acts lasted the whole 5 mins and beat the Frog. Most others lasting a respectable 3 minutes. The audience had a varied and entertaining evening hosted by a comedian who needs his own TV show!

Reviewer - Kathryn Gorton
on - 15/4/19