The Oxford Revue was hosted by the hilarious Phil Wang, who wasn’t afraid to make jokes about his name; “When there’s a Phil, there’s a Wang”. He was an act in the show five years previously, and his return (as he described it) demonstrated just how far he’d come since then. It was a great start to the show and he had a natural talent that I would pay to see in the future, getting the audience involved from the off, flirting outrageously with an old lady at the front.

Next came The Leeds Tea Lights who performed some brilliant and relatable sketches including one about the housing crisis and another about the stereotypes facing women in today’s world. They exceeded my expectations and were very well rehearsed, confident in their role, demonstrating that they’d done the acts many times before.

Afterwards came The Cambridge Footlights who, like the Tea Lights, performed a series of sketches, including one about table football and the reaction of the players - the funniest of the night.

Then came the three Oxford based groups. The first two were, I’m afraid to say, not as funny as the opposition. One group performed pieces rather than sketches and just looked nervous on stage, with few hilarious bits and some pieces that we just didn’t understand at all.

Then second group were admittedly funnier than their predecessors, but still had some awkward moments which got few laughs.

Last came the Oxford Revue and Friends, bringing some great sketches and providing much laughter; the audience loved it. It was impressive how topical and current the comedy was, with sketches about everything from Adele’s new album to taking the mickey out of physical theatre and the most recent Band Aid recording.

Overall it was a really great evening of entertainment, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the talent we saw goes on to achieve great things in the industry.

Ali Henderson and Xav Sinden

5/5