It’s been ages since I’ve been to a “Comedy Night”, and so when the invitation came through I snapped it up immediately.

The Comedy Store EQ’s Festival Club Showcase is THE Joker’s Jackpot of Sydney Comedy Festival’s international and home-grown comedians!

Be prepared for everything! As they drop in to warm up, entertain, try new gags and generally cut loose on Stand-Up in ways you would never see in their structured shows.

The Showcase is an underground favourite with gag mad festival fans; with the worlds brightest and Australia’s finest rubbing shoulders in one massive comedy showcase (at least 5 comedians per night).

Officially on the bill is Britain’s king of the one-liners: John Moloney, France’s premier misanthropist and lover Marcel Lucont, and local flavour Jacques Barrett. Plus secret special ‘festival’ guests all month long.

As I’m not a huge follower of stand-up, I wasn’t aware of any of the comedians at all. I mean, I know a lot of stand-up comedians, with my favourite from the last few years being Danny Bhoy (or is it Dhanny Boy?).

Sitting in the front row we prepared ourselves for a little bit audience interaction, which we played along with. “Are you game?”, I said to Sam. Of course he said yes, probably knowing I’d be the one who was the but of jokes. With both of us coming straight from work, and me wearing my new glasses, we decided we looked like “industry promoters”.

One thing I did notice, though, was that every other couple in the front row was asked “how long have you been together”, “you gonna get married”, whereas we weren’t.

My favourite piece of audience interaction though was when John Moloney did part of his routine, and said something delightfully filthy in German. I laughed instantly. “So you speak German?” he said to me. I blushed, thinking to myself, “Well not too much, but I certainly know the phrase for ‘big penis'”. :)