The crowd at the North Wall were clearly looking forward to escaping the sweltering heat with two upcoming, cool-as-ice, comedians acts last Thursday. Unfortunately they failed; not because of the acts, but because there was no air-conditioning.

First was Isy Suttie. She’s best known for her depiction of a geeky IT specialist in the last series of Channel 4’s Peep Show. Although she retains the unique sensibility that she displayed there, her routine is much warmer and whimsical. It is frequently punctuated by songs she performs with her guitar, concerning her childhood, her friends or relationships.

She’s an engaging cross between Victoria Wood, and the DIY, boho-chic comedy of Josie Long.

It’s not a perfect set. The songs are a little hit and miss. Also, Suttie is not a natural improviser; she asks the audience about what, as children, they thought they would do as adults, and she grinds to an unspectacular, joke-free, halt. But she is charming and engaging, with her real strength emerging through asides; her story about Amy Winehouse is particularly amusing. Second up was Simon Brodkin, who has appeared on TV with pub landlord Al Murray. He performs four characters in his hour-long set: an upper-class political activist, a premiership footballer, a crazed TV doctor and a frightening chav.

Each character is imbued with scathing social commentary. Occasionally his targets are a little broad (the upper-class political activist, for example is guilty of this). Also, some material seems a little passé; ‘Make Poverty History’ was at the cultural forefront circa 2005, while comedians like Alistair McGowan have been hitting the same pot shots at footballers on his Big Impression. But when Brodkin is good, he is quite extraordinary. His doctor’s flippancy and insensitivity is perfectly pitched. The chav, is perfectly judged; the uncomfortable nature of it exacerbated by audience participation.