Dave Woodhall reports on an unexpected bonus.

The best nights are usually the unplanned ones. Friday night, fancy going out, but where? Nothing worth watching at the cinema and I have an aversion to pubs when the sun’s out. At times like this Google is your friend and a quick search found a comedy night at the mac.

We used to go there years ago but got out of the habit so now’s as good a time as any to start again. It wasn’t the usual type of comedy club featuring acts (and probably material) you’ve seen before, but the culmination of a course for budding stand-up comics. Well, it’s always good to encourage new talent and so what if they’re crap? It’s only five quid.

The Hexagon wasn’t full, but it wasn’t far off and on a night like Friday that made for an uncomfortably sweaty couple of hours because while it might have only been five quid, crap this most certainly was not. Compere and course lecturer James Cook, himself a doyen of the local comedy circuit, introduced seven acts making their live debuts with not a trace of nerves between them. Some were a bit more polished than others but all were very, very funny.

It wouldn’t be fair to review them individually so I’ll say Thomas Rackham, Hetta Campbell, Tom Lennon, Lorraine Lewis, Woody Woodfield, Suzanne Conwoman and Alex Harper, you each deserved every bit of the long and loud applause you received. This isn’t patronising them for having a go, they were all great and I’d happily watch any of them again.

There’s another course starting in September, it lasts three months and good luck to anyone thinking about it. More details at www.macbirmingham.co.uk