An English man, Irish man and Welsh man walk into a bar .... in Monaco

An English man, Irish man and Welsh man walk into a bar in Monaco ....

And that's the problem if you're putting on a comedy show in the Principality. There are so many nationalities and cultures in the audience that acts relying on observational comedy rarely engage more than a handful of people.

So it was a delight to experience the humour of two up and coming comedians at the July stand-up gig organized by the Comedy Club of the Cote d'Azur.

First up to the mic was Amir Khoshsokhan. Well, he was sort of second up because the second comedian, Bobby Mair, came on first to introduce him.

Khoshsokhan surveyed the audience with big, mournful eyes, and told us he'd just split up from his girlfriend, but if he was expecting sympathy, he got none. There were plenty of laughs tho', as he played out his shaggy-dog story with reference to the problems of role play, the words of Tupac and the confidence of Hitler. We were captivated despite the best efforts of the DJ next door.

Second up was Bobby Mair, whose style was completely different to Khoshsokhan. He was loud, slightly manic, and his set jumped from MDMA-selling dwarves, to wanking whilst sharing a bed with his dad. He not only managed to elicit some audience participation, always a problem in Monaco where discretion is the better part of everything, but also persuaded two residents to adopt him.

Khoshsokhan and Mair play two more gigs in the region, tonight (Thu 23 Jul) in Le Troquet des Artists in Antibes, and tomorrow (Fri 24 Jul) in Ma Nolans, Cannes. Otherwise, Comedy Club Cote d'Azur takes a break in August, and returns with new acts in September.

Photo source: Comedy Cote d'Azur website.