The clink of wine glasses resonated around the luxurious surrounding of the Bingham Hotel on Tuesday evening. Canapes sped past on trays to feed the large crowd who had turned out to support the participants of the first ever Funny Women Challenge.
Gabby Logan hosted the show superbly, giving a short interview to each of the challengers following their performance. Mel Burgess was given the daunting job of performing first, a little nervous at first she soon got in to her stride and drew her set to a neat and hilarious finish. Julie Hall and Claire Pelenc also gave brilliant and confident performances. The occasional slip up on the night was greeted with friendly and supportive applause giving a warm atmosphere to the evening. Nora Berge achieved what she set out to do by proving that Germans most definitely can be funny. The hilarious (and slightly hyper) Karen Darby gave a fantastic and energetic performance, it was hard to believe that none of the challengers had ever performed stand-up before. Comedian, columnist and mentor to the challengers, Viv Groskop took to the stage to perform, rounding off her set with an original rap.
By the end of the night it was smiles all round, there was even hint of a future Funny Men’s challenge. So watch this space! To finish off the evening, Impressionist Jan Ravens was invited up on stage to draw the raffle in the entertaining style of Ann Widdecombe. Over £400 was raised for the New Victoria Medical Foundation from the raffle alone, a wonderful result.
A massive well done to all our challengers, maybe we’ll even see some of them in next year’s Funny Women Awards!
Read about challenger Julie Hall’s experience HERE
