The Comedy Zone

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A Fringe institution in its 23^rd year, like countless other mixed bill packages, this sells itself as an opportunity to watch tomorrow's stars today, but amounts to less than the sum of its undeniably promising parts.

Host Carl Hutchinson, a 2009 Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year nominee and former teacher, is an amiable enough fellow, but seems uncomfortable and beset by nerves for most of his time on stage. Once relaxed, he's afforded little room to do anything besides introduce the next act and we suspect that his talents might be best observed in the context of his evening solo show.

Matt Winning is probably the group's most original performer, but struggles to hold the audience's attention over his entire set, losing them with obscure references to Robert Mugabe and the filmography of Harrison Ford. Next up is Lucy Beaumont whose deadpan material on life in Hull receives the strongest response of the night, yet feels like conventional subject matter stretched to breaking point. After a turbulent hour of false starts during which the gig never quite takes off, gently weird headliner Tommy Rowson registers with the late-night audience as little more than a faintly amusing anticlimax.