Brighton Comedy Festival opening gala

Charity gigs, by their very nature, are usually jolly affairs, and Brighton Comedy Festival’s opening gala at the Dome was no exception. It had a stellar line-up, but also the advantage of being hosted by Alan Carr (the patron of The Sussex Beacon, in whose aid it was given) who was, like most of the guests, on cracking  form.

Carr, who will be touring next year, was running out some new material, but it was when he was just riffing with the audience that he was at his best, talking about his new boyfriend – “a nice mix of masculine and feminine. He could enjoy a dog fight but appreciates a room spray” – the perils of dog-walking, and his hopeless attempts at passing himself off as straight while holidaying in the non-gay-friendly Maldives.

The show’s closer was a surprise slot by Michael McIntyre

Adam Hills had the difficult opening spot but his irrepressible bonhomie, while making friends with the audience (and getting some of them to make friends with their neighbour) was infectious and set the tone for the evening. Even Jack Dee, who did a rather weird musical interlude, cracked a smile at one point. Simon Evans. Angela Barnes, Jon Richardson, Suzy Ruffell and Seann Walsh neatly parlayed sections of their acts into their spots while making some clever local references (Evans flirting dangerously with his gags about kebab-eating, incontinent hen parties marauding Brighton’s streets) and mercifully, if anyone overran their time, it never felt like it.

The show’s closer was a surprise slot by Michael McIntyre (although Carr, in a rare lapse in his MC duties, had let slip early in the show that he was in the house). McIntyre  was rusty from not touring in a while, he told us, but – producing a sheaf of notes from his pocket – he had brought some jokes with him. “I mean mine, not others’ that I’ve stolen.” Oh no, Michael, because stealing material from other comics would be a very bad thing.

McIntyre talked about moving to the country, being recognised and having eye tests, and he went down a storm with the audience, even when he did a really unfunny section involving an Angolan, complete with a weird accent that Stephen K Amos, a comic of Nigerian descent, may have recognised as owing more to his parents’ part of the world.

But charity galas are notable by their, well, charitableness, and there were only a few groans in the audience at such an inept gag from someone whose delivery is usually so professional. And other than that, it was a great start to three weeks of comedy in the lovely South Coast town.

• Brighton Comedy Festival continues until October 20