IT takes guts to stand in front of a crowd of strangers and declare you have an STI. But that was one of the least risque things we heard at Newcastle's Raw Comedy heats, an open-mic night that encourages prospective comedians to roll out five minutes of their best material in hope of scoring a berth to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
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The night's opener, 21-year-old Isaac Butterfield, from Dudley, started what would become a popular theme: relationships. In five-minute slots, the topic would delve into chlamydia, online dating and - in a memorable bit by East Maitland comic Martin Short - Tony Abbott giving a "flying f - - -" to Prince Philip on a zip-line.
Rowan Thambar, 20, from Cooks Hill, had an entertaining variation on the theme with a musical piece about breaking up with a racist girl. He did well under pressure when the strap fell from his keyboard as soon as he walked on stage, keeping the crowd laughing as he quickly reattached it and launched into two shorter pieces before his main course.
The night's MC, Rhys Nicholson (a graduate of Raw Comedy), was his regular, dazzling self in hilarious five-minute bits that explored bogan parenting, Facebook-stalking people he went to school with and his latest persona, "Mama". The cheeky and gracious Novocastrian was the perfect pick, warming up the crowd with a mix of local references and continuations of jokes from his budding peers.
The standard overall was high, upheld by Christine Armstrong in her theme of making small talk at the checkout, Andrew Milos with a polished, clever delivery and Derrick Vale, who kept the crowd on a knife edge with his talent for building up tension with controversial topics (like the Stolen Generation) then releasing it with impeccable timing.
At the end of the night, Michael Sykes was declared runner-up with his entertaining "opinions on things", a series of pun-filled one-liners including: "I tried to learn braille but I just wasn't feeling it."
But there could only be one winner: Brock Henry. As soon as the 38-year-old, from Kincumber, walked on stage and took his stance, the crowd sensed they were in for something special. Straight-faced, Henry proved the best had been left until last with material on parenting and being propositioned for "a good time".
There's no doubt Newcastle will be well represented when Henry moves on to the next round, the state semi-finals in Sydney.
