FRIDAY night saw the Town Hall packed as usual with a crowd determined to have a good time, however the night played out.

With the upcoming Edinburgh Festival preview show in place for next month’s slot, Friday’s line-up had the task of setting the bar as high as possible.

Outgoing compere Joe Bor started the evening by engaging with the rowdy audience to get a feel for the room. Although his act was mainly based around crowd interaction, the ex-teaching assistant did tell a few short anecdotes.

Using his former career as a starting point, he told of ghetto valentine cards and other surreal experiences with children. Bor started slowly but gained confidence as the night progressed, with his bubbly style and impressive accents keeping the audience happy throughout.

First billed act of the night was Funny Woman ’06 Zoe Lyons, who’s expressive and visually extravagant stories won over an enthusiastic and willing crowd.

Covering subjects such as patriotism and the decline in quality of Marks & Spencer underwear, she glided comfortably through her safe if unspectacular set.

Her oddball philosophies and proposals for the government were preposterously detailed and so well thought out that at times it seemed more like a political rally with comedic interjections rather than vice versa.

Second onto the stage was Gareth Richards, who started with one liners but progressed onto anecdotes as the night went on.

His decision to base the first half of his act around short jokes alienated most of the crowd due to the adolescent nature of the content, however he won them back with the fantastically grim tales of an early working life spent in McDonalds, including an unfortunate incident with Ronald and an employee’s phobia of clowns.

The headline act for the evening Paul Sinha was in his own words “Britain’s only gay, Asian, GP turned stand-up comedian."

The professionalism and experience of Sinha shone through and it was immediately evident why he was the headline act.

Basing much of his set around the irony of English culture, Sinha impressed the crowd with a set that managed to successfully blend laughter with deep moral undertones.

It was obvious that although over-exaggerated for comedic effect in places, Sinha truly believed in the messages he conveyed from his material, which is what endeared him so much to the receptive crowd.

Although lacklustre in places and certainly not the best Bottle Rocket, this Friday night was a satisfying preface to the hotly anticipated Fringe preview show next month.