Hopefully, seeing Jason Byrne compere the Leicester Comedy Festival Preview Show will prove to be my worst comedy experience of 2008. How has he won the plaudits he has? His act appears unplanned, disorganised, and sadly repetitive - if anyone can be accused of being "one note" it was him, using material which was solely sexual or scatological. Never can the phrase "fuckin' eejit" been [over]used so repeatedly. He struck me as immature, with nothing interesting to say. And yes, I always was ready for the next act - anything to get rid of the tedious Mr Byrne. Paul Sinha presented such a contrast. No need for him to resort to histrionics. A calm, polished performance, which whilst familiar in parts still evoked a good deal of laughter the second time of asking. The other stand out was Ivan Brackenbury, and not solely for the novelty value. Unfortunately, with so much happening, some of the jokes became lost in translation, but given the act's context that may be inevitable.

Geo, January 2008