Our final show of the year was one of our very best, despite the loss of Susan Harrison to “double booking” and a a smaller than expected crowd for such a banging lineup.

Fortunately those that did attend were WELL UP for a bit of alternative comedy, and they were repaid for their enthusiasm with quality weirdness.

First up was Joz Norris, who is busy working on his sitcom pilot and a new Fringe show for 2024.

I was hosting, and after my traditional bit on the ongoing troubles of Next Level Sketch’s official charity partners, the Captain Sir Tom Moore Foundation, I introduced a “Michael Spinach”, definitely not Joz Norris in an unconvincing wig.

Joz is one of my favourite performers, and – based on my interview with him last year – he thinks VERY DEEPLY about being this stupid.

My favourite bit was his talking about how even though Michael Spinach definitely IS just Joz Norris in an unconvincing wig (I was lying to you a couple of paragraphs ago), he finds it very difficult to perform this character without said prop, to the extend of needing to desperately ask audience members for a hat if he forgets to bring it (audience members are more likely to have hats than wigs, though neither should be worn indoors).

I’ve been thinking a lot about character lately, and this donning of one’s metaphorical comedy armour made me think of Simon Topping and his gradual transformation into Leslie Bloom (I will stop linking to my own interviews soon, I promise).

Next up was us lot, Next Level Sketch. And… we were fucking great?

Many times I’ve written here about how it’s tricky to present brand new sketches on a bill alongside acts doing their tightest ten, but… when it works, it really works.

The quality of the BRAND NEW, possibly NEVER TO BE PERFORMED AGAIN Christmas sketches was off the charts. I especially enjoyed Alex Lubetkin’s tech-bro Hulk-Hands meltdown, and Sir Kier Starmer’s take on It’s a Wonderful Life, with a brilliant Clarence the angel from Josephine Patane, whose joyful, silly earnestness cut beautifully across the cynicism of Nu Labour’s sensible and pragmatic leader.

There was also an excellent Ben sketch about “the CEO of all music” decreeing an end to the canon of popular Xmas songs, both a funny idea and something that got me feeling something about our era of perma-regurgitated culture.

And I wrote a sketch about the Santa Claus Extended Universe, beautifully performed by Annabel Edmonds in particular, in which the terrifying Farmhand Rupert is never fully explained.

I also enjoyed the Greg incident, half way through, which reminded me of the fake gag in The Simpsons, except with sinister covers of Christmas favourites.

It’s been a really fun year for Next Level, my favourite one in terms of quality of shows and performances since we started. New and new-ish writers and performers like Rosie McKaig, the aforementioned Alex and Annabel, Cara MacB, and Jamie Byrne have really added new energy and spunk to the shows, and the haggard old lags (me, Paul, Dan, and Rebecca) have upped their games too.

In the second half we had returning champions Grubby Little Mitts and Lorna Rose Treen, whose brilliance would take more time to document here than I have left this wintry lunchtime. So I will simply say: see them, and see them often, in the year of our lord 2025.

The night ended with half of Grubby Little Mitts – also a prop artist – making terrifying teeth for Lorna in the bar downstairs, and your good self already excitedly looking forward to our fifth anniversary special on Thursday 30th January 2025.

See you there?