How do you write a comedy review of a night of fast-paced delivery when you are struggling not to cry with laughter? All I can say is the second Ibiza Comedy Gala certainly was incredibly funny. The first one took place in October last year and came back for a second coming to its new home of Atzaro even more joke-filled than the last.
Arriving at this beautiful venue, we were greeted by the sight of bowls of oranges, fine Eastern style adornments that grace this old finca and a feeling of peace: the calm before the storm of jokes we were hoping to get that night. We did of course.
It's an event that is delivered entirely in English, though with the necessary understanding that the audience would not be 100% Anglophones. We had Spanish, Finnish and German watching at the second night and probably more - they were just people I had spoken to.
Between the laughs - the audience talk about the night
Humour can travel and it's to Neil Kinsella's credit - the man behind the event and owner of London's Covent Garden Comedy Club - that we ended up with a selection of UK comedians that understand well the Ibiza audience.
Barry Castagnola, the compere of comperes, was back from the first show to host again. He had the first taste of the serial hecklers at the front, whom he labelled the ‘foetuses' (they were all young guys) and who with a mastery few could muster managed to mix them into his act without a hair raised. Even they saw the joke.
Jen Brister: a woman of many funny faces
The comedians have worked in other countries, so adapting to cultural and linguistic differences is nothing new to them. The first one up, Jen Brister is half Spanish and her impressions of her mother talking over her daughter's (Jen's) TV programmes pointing out who was now dead and how - all in a heavy accent - were hilarious. ‘Dead, dead, dead, cancer, cancer, diabetes'.
She has the accolade of being the first female comedian I ever saw who successfully handled talking about women's periods and it not being icky for the men. Her facial expressions were fantastic and her routine of the reality of being on one versus how it's portrayed in adverts was brilliant; she held down the idea of the infamous woman who dumped a cat into a bin being evidently on her period extraordinarily well...without distressing cat lovers.
Blooming hilarious: Adam Bloom's rapid-fire routine had everyone in stitches
She was followed by an incredibly funny act in the shape of Adam Bloom, who when walking on offered that he was the ugly version of Tom Hardy. Asking him about it later, he shrugged and told me that joke about oneself tend to work well. This one did.
Adam went on in his bouncy, nervous-energy, rapid-fire way capturing the hearts and minds of the audience. On revealing that he was half Jewish, half German he told us that ‘one of my parents is a megalomaniac that likes power and wants to take over the world; the other one's German.'
Finishing off musically - Rob Dearing fusing sound and voice
The finale was Rob Dearing who offered a mash-up of music and comedy with a series of pre-recorded loops, his voice and and live guitar. He gave us the sounds of the ‘80s and the ‘90s in the most hilarious way. I loved the '90s one which he played as a set of beeps, interspersed with some hilarious vocals, sounding a lot like Heather Small of M People.
Rob was a master of timing doing his musical routines with some brilliant stand up in between, finishing on some guitar Guns n' Roses style and sending out the show with a very funny finish.
Expect more from the Ibiza Comedy Gala: this event was a sell out show like the first and a lot of the audience was new this time. The comedians are great, world-class even and you will leave full of endorphins and a feeling of comedy bliss. Go!
