January has gone, but the weather has still got the winter feel about it with Edinburgh getting fresh snow during the morning, but although the outside conditions would have had polar bears complaining about the cold there was a different atmosphere inside Edinburgh’s premier comedy venue The Stand, where the red hot line up for the February version of the ‘all-female’ line up of Wicked Wenches was on offer.

Long before doors the queue was way down the street and by start time there wasn’t even any standing room to be had in the place.

Host for the night, as usual for Wicked Wenches, was Susan ‘The Calminator’ Calman and boy did she have a field day with the sold-out audience.

The job requires a lot of ice-breaking, warming up the crowd, eliciting information for the following acts to feed off and of course making folk laugh. Susan is well versed in this role and she was at her very best on the night. Having seen her numerous times over the past couple of years some on the material was familiar, however with a different crowd hearing it for the first time and some nuances in the set as well; it was a thoroughly enjoyable opening.

The opening act was Sally Anne Hayward. I had previously seen her during Edinburgh Fringe 2005 as part of AAA Stand-up show but our paths hadn’t crossed since. Feeling her way into the gig, Sally built the momentum of her act well and had some really good material and an engaging delivery. Her stuff was often self-deprecating, but often with a sting in the tail. All in all we thoroughly enjoyable set and I hope it isn’t another four years until I see her again.

After the first interval the first of two acts in the second half was young Midlander, Lucy Oldham. Lucy is fairly new on the comedy scene and it was the first time she had crossed my radar. Straight off into her set cracking a joke about Birmingham and I felt she had the crowd with her. Ten minutes is a fairly short time to build a set, but I felt she certainly did her bit to add to the evening’s entertainment. She has some decent material, plenty of laughs and a pleasant demeanour and given a little more confidence I’m sure she has a good future in the business. I’d certainly be pleased to see her again.

The second act in part two was the hugely talented Susan Morrison. It was great to see this gallous Glaswegian actually doing a set, as like the Calminator, Ms Morrison is more usually seen as ‘Mein Host’. The twenty or minutes or so gave us all a reminder of how good a comedian she really is. Susan has material by the bucket load and a personality to swamp even the largest room, so in the compact space that is the Stand you can imagine the impact. The laughs come thick and fast, sometimes too fast to fully appreciate them fully, but I wouldn’t have he any other way. The time flew by and we are really looking forward to seeing her again soon, it doesn’t matter whether as a compere or as an act.

Following the second interval and prize draw it was headliner time, and what a headliner. Was it really 2005 that I first saw Sarah Millican during her run in ‘So You Think You’re Funny’ when she finished runner up?

Sarah no longer needs to think she is funny, she knows she is. And thousands of people would testify that she really is.  I have seen both of her last two Edinburgh shows and really rate her and judging by the sell-out shows, countless TV and radio appearances I am not alone in my appreciation.

Sarah has stage presence in spades, a whole raft of hilarious material and a unique style in her often self-deprecating delivery. I’m sure that her presence on the bill is an added bonus to ticket sales with a shed load of people wanting to see if this genial Geordie is as funny in the flesh as she is on the box. Take my word, she is even better live.

All too soon Wicked Wenches was all over for another month, but the comedy never stops at the Stand. Check out their gigs for both Edinburgh and Glasgow by checking out their website www.thestand.co.uk for further details of future gigs. We’ll see you there.