"Washdown Open Mic Night" by Funny Laundering
The Den, Wolf Italian Street Food, Nottingham.

This is the first time that I have been to an open mic night of any kind, so was really intrigued at what was to come. Held at The Den within Wolf Italian Street Food on Market Street in Nottingham, which I will admit do an excellent hot chocolate and the smells of the pizza almost made me part with some cash for the gorgeous smelling food, but maybe on my next visit.

This show was the launch show for Funny Laundering and it was a complete success with the downstairs Den packed out with various entertainers and people who just love a good laugh, and that is what they got.

Every piece of comedy was novel and covered many subjects. Parts were incredibly educational to me. I learned new words for various body parts and will never look at a tuna taco in the same way!!

The evening started off with a comedy set from our three hosts, Victoria Appleton, Emily Owen and Charlotte Howarth with a routine about bathroom accessories. i never realised there was so much comedy surrounding talcum powder.

Local actor and musical theatre funny man, Jarrod Makin then treated us to a song all about stalking called "Loving To Excess".

I love a ukelele and the next act, Kathy Giddins, provided us with a parody of Zayn Malik's first hit, this time with the subject being all about cats; the second song being about being a creepy room mate. This is comedy that you really have to listen to, to get the full impact of the comedy. the acoustics of The Den being perfect to capture every word.

Next up we had Kitty Messalina who did a stand up routine,and I learned what polyamour was - I think that is how you spell it. Very funny routine with a view from another side of personal relationships.

Nic Pope, who set her stand out from the start,letting us know that she wanted to be known as "them or they" as opposed to "he or she". I love a comedian who educates and is funny and in a world where people's gender is sometimes blown out of all proportion, it's nice to see, and hear someone who can diffuse the 100 or so gender choices with intelligence and comedy.

Act Two got the room just a little hotter with a sketch performed by Gigi La Chatte and Clint Hardwood ( which included some comedy burlesque that harked back to the golden age of silent comedy. No words needed for this one!

Audience participation next came into play, and I am not a big fan of audience participation but, as I was relaxed and confident with what had gone before, I joined in willingly in the silliness along with the rest of the room.

Sparkles La Mar - again apologies if this is not the correct spelling - then told us the sad story of "O" and Roger the Lobster, which is the section where I was educated in biological terms for parts of the body. Loved Sparkles' costume as well. You can't beat a good story teller and I was completely enrapt with this tale.

The night started brilliantly and ended just as brilliantly with a lady called Louisa Guerreiro - but what a wonderful closer. Louisa made the trip from London where she has been appearing in the West End. She is of Portugese parents and her routine included drawing on her Portugese mother's conversations with Louisa, Ronaldo airport, which I am still giggling at as I type, as well as a couple of very funny parodies of musical theatre songs "Part Of Your World" and "I Dreamed A Dream".

The evening was closed by our three hosts giving an accapella parody rendition of "Car Wash" where we substituted the name Car Wash for Wash Down. I somehow do not think that anyone tonight left without knowing the name of the night they had just enjoyed.

This was the launch night and with a Christmas Comedy Special on 14 December at the same venue, as well as a regular spot as from February, every other month, I think that Funny Laundering may take other comedy nights to the cleaners.

Comedy,especially stand up comedy is the hardest art form to succeed at. The people who put themselves behind the mike are also incredibly brave, as well as confident of their ability, as this group proved tonight.

A complete smash hit of a night with some novel approaches to comedy. Here's to the next one.