Jesse Griffin: Comedy Festival review

Into the Classic Studio we filed - and to a sign on the stage saying "You'll find out what this is a bit later", setting the tone for an inquisitive night ahead.

Jesse Griffin introduced himself in the best way on the PA - as our support and headline act before making his way to the stage and beginning right from the very start - with the big bang.

From there, a rambling stream of consciousness extolled how we'd got to this stage - and how chance had led us to Jesse, our leader.

It's an interesting night with Jesse - a lot of wordplay and deadpan dry moments which you really need to make sure you're paying attention to to get the maximum return from what he's saying. This self professed "Ginger nut" had a lightly mocking tone which belied some quick thinking and smart seeding of payoffs early on.

It's actually hard to define fully what this show was about - as Jesse selects three members of the audience to fill in his survey questionnaire (sample question: On a scale of 1 to 10, tell us how you feel about 11), there's a genuine impish pleasure in revelling in the absurdity of language, the ambivalence of meaning and a large serving of very dry humour.

A selection of graphs (whoever thought you'd come to a comedy show to look at graphs) proved to be a very sly nod and a wink to those investing in intellect into the proceedings.

That's the thing with Jesse's humour - it's quietly delivered, super smart throughout and will need your investment in the set ups for the ultimate pay offs. With a glint of something twinkling behind his eyes, I was very happy to follow Jesse as a leader - hopefully you'll feel the same as one of the quirkiest, and most different of the festival shows continues.