And so the last day... sniff. I'll miss all this bodding between all the different venues across the city. Though of course there's comedy every night in Manchester so no excuse for not going to see some the rest of the year.

Anyway it was back to Apotheca tonight to catch an early show, Ivor Dembina's Stand Up Jewish Comedy. First of two performances of the show, the latter being at 8pm. As you might have gathered by the title the show is a journey through Dembina's life as a Jewish man – of course with plenty of jokes along the way. From joining the synagogue where he was presented with the gifts of an orange and a new name, through his Bar Mitztvah, starting stand up, and travels to America, Australia and Israel where he and his settler cousin disagree as to where in the world exactly the promised land of the Jews is. His is a measured performance that evocatively conjures his life story and frequently pauses to poke fun at Jewish stereotypes along the way.

And on to the Comedy Store for New Stuff their regular twice a month night where comedians try out new material (though you'd probably worked that out from the title). It's another of Toby Hadoke's regular gigs where he gathers together largely professional comedians to test out their new gags. It works surprisingly well with local acts Mike Wilkinson (though technically he lives in Cumbria now), Ciamh McDonnell, improv troupe Comedy Sportz, Daliso Chaponda, Katie Mulgrew, Eddie Hoo and Vinca Atta. Plus dropping in were Stuart Mitchell from Glasgow, Latin American/Chinese Javier Jarquin and the London based Thom Tuck after finishing the second outing of his solo over at Soup Kitchen.

And so after a cheeky glass of red and a slice of pizza at the end of festival party I'm off to bed... night.


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