Chris Turner

A sartorially stylish and generally sharp start was made by civil servant Tez Ilyas, 28, who was winningly cheeky from the off. IIyas showed off some nifty crowd-work and was equally adept at toying with concepts, for example dextrously entwining the clichéd shortcomings of religious extremes. He lost his head of steam, however, in a section about telling his family that he wanted to be a comedian, but still made a good impression overall.

Almost the complete opposite to IIyas, in terms of fashion at least, was Mark Restuccia, who appeared with ripped jeans and a tweed-patterned jacket with elbow patches. The 38-year-old voiceover artist let forth numerous one-liners, some of which were clever and some of which were a little too cute to have sufficient impact. With an air of the late Malcolm Hardee about him, he nonetheless shows some definite promise.

Angela Barnes picked up the one-liner baton with great aplomb and gave a beautifully paced performance that was aided by the consistent quality of her jokes, many of which showed a great skill with self-deprecation. Despite sporting a Mary Quant-style red bob, 34-year-old Barnes maintained that even were she dressed in Chanel she would still appear only as Matalan chic. Meanwhile, a section about a short-lived relationship was delivered with belief and, despite its contrived nature, scored high on punchlines.

Pat Cahill, 26, then took the evening in a slightly more bizarre direction, coming on stage with his microphone resting on a stand fashioned from a coat-hanger decorated with a plastic floral arrangement. His enduring gag was a rap Tumour Dog, about what you think. A model-maker from East Anglia, Cahill looks to have realistic designs on comedy and with more focus could be one to watch.

Joint-youngest contender, Chris Turner, has just finished a BA in archaeology and anthropology at Oxford, and some of his deadpan one-liners were suitably clever, for example confusing Roman numerals with advisory ratings on explicit content. Some gags were more too-clever-by-half, however, such as his take on the phrase ‘a dog is not just for Christmas’. Despite creases to iron out, to reach these finals at 21 is a great boost to a fledgling career.

Along with Mark Restuccia, Joe Lycett has also reached the competition limit of three years’ experience – and has previously won the Chortle Student Award. Recently given a TV break on Alexander Armstrong's forthcoming BBC1 show Epic Win, Lycett's crowd-pleasing gags include mimicry of X Factor voiceover man Peter Dickson. However, the 21-year-old, part Dudley Moore, part Frankie Howerd, has much more in his armoury, and his apparent mission to debunk pomposity will no doubt throw up more memorable material.

After a break and short performances from Abandoman and Chris Ramsay, host Patrick Kielty announced – to thunderous cheers – that Brighton-based Angela Barnes had scored a well-deserved victory. No one can deny that triumphing in Auntie’s resurrected competition will give her a vital leg-up comedy’s long career ladder.

• Click here to read Q&A interviews with all the finalists.