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More Sally-Anne Hayward videos

Winner of the FHM/Holsten Pils award in 2004, and now a regular compere at Jesters in Bristol, as well as performing around the country.

Sally-Anne Hayward: Fringe 2012
Live Review
Stand 3 and 4

Sally-Anne Hayward has had a pretty terrible year by any account. It was dominated by the death of her father, and attempting to find humour in the minutiae of life over the past 12 months, as she has elected to do, seems doomed to failure with such a strong overhanging theme.

Her joke count is very high or abysmally low depending on where you draw the line. There are a lot of mild chuckles, but the material is hit and miss –  although that would suggest a near 50/50 split, which she was far from attaining.

It's all so conversational it's pretty much chat, more akin to catching up with an old friend over coffee than a stand-up set. What jokes are  distinguishable are either cliché or mediocre observational comedy at best, with Hayward laughing more than the audience at the overly obvious punchlines.

The odd mix of material, crunching gears between the grieving process and that time she went to the shops is too disjointed, and deadens the impact of both.

Hayward also appeared to be suffering a crisis of confidence, delivering the jokes without gusto and looking like she was just trying to make it through to the set rather than having a burning desire to tell a story.

It didn't help that almost all of the modest midday audience were sluggish, lacking appreciation even for the good jokes. The silence and lack of energy was eerie and off-putting in this disappointing show, performed with little enthusiasm.

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Sally recently stepped into the breach when my MC dropped out. What a wonderful replacement she was. The audience were treated to a superb show of comic interaction and compere work. An asset to any comedy night. She will be back.

Out of Bounds Comedy, December 2010

Saw sally do a great 30 mins set in a cold tent in Southwold. Excellent material and performance. Nice to see her doing a set for a change

david ward, August 2010

Sally was funny and engaging at our show last night - she brightened up the audience and was an excellent compere. Would certainly invite her back again.

Phil from Tring, October 2008

I recently saw Sally perform compere duties at Bristol's Jesters club. Whilst occasionally dipping into some very funny material, her banter and ease with the audience provided most of the entertainment. One of her skills is in establishing a cast of characters around the room - first probing the idiosyncrasies of various members of the audience and then chairing a dialogue between them, with hilarious results. Whilst also wishing to see Sally deliver a full stand-up set, I would love to see her work her comperes magic again and with a fresh room of 'guests'. Superb.

Danny T., September 2007

Sally comperes the courtyard in hereford on a regular basis. As I go to 99% of the shows there I expect to see Sally repeat material but it seems to be getting a bit much lately. I heard several people complaining at the last gig (Feb 2nd ). I'm not knocking Sally, she's fine, just a little more variance please.

colin the courtyard king, February 2007

Sally's a great act, each time we saw her at Plymouth she was really good.

Andy C, November 2006

Delivered a brilliant 30 minutes worth of funny material, well loved by the audience.Funny lady, great style, great material.

Nik Hill, October 2005

I saw at Ha Bloody Ha in Ealing. I did think that some of her material was funny. In fact if only she had more self confidence she would be very good. Her job application material was the best part of the act. The show was spoiled as a few people talked amongst themselves throughout her act. Sally was not able to handle them and that is part of her downfall. She should believe in herself more and not try as hard to make people like her.

Andy, September 2005

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