 Those of us addicted to Forth One’s breakfast
show can’t escape to notice the rivalry between Boogie and Arlene. The
male / female competition started with ‘Pole Dancing’, won by
Arlene, followed by ‘Dancing on Ice’ again won by Arlene. The latest
confrontation was to decide who is funnier males or females.
Boogie, was mentored by Craig Hill and Arlene
by Susan Morrison. A select crowd of ticket winners descended on The
Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh on Wednesday 1st of April.
Honest it is no joke the competition was to be judged on April Fools
day!
 The evening was started by Mein Host Grant
Stott, who not only hosted the gig but acted as warm-up for all the
other acts to follow. Firstly he introduced Ian Stirling. This young man
is new to both Geoff and myself but he is yet another name to look out
for in the future. After a short interval the first of the two listeners
competition winners, Pamela Manderson took to the stage. Pamela is a
mother of three and much of her set was built round this fact. The
second of the competition winners Scott Glynn ‘Big Scott from Tranent’,
a regular participant of phone ins to the breakfast show took to the
stage like a real professional. He very nearly upstaged everyone on the
bill. It was hard to believe this was his first attempt at stand-up. 
After a second interval we finally got down to
the competition. After introducing mentors Susan and Craig, Grant
invited Arlene on to the stage. Arlene looking particularly stunning
sailed into her set with the ease of a professional performer. She
seemed to have no nerves at all as she covered the topics of children
and growing mature gracefully or perhaps it should be disgracefully.
Whether it was mentor Susan’s influence or Arlene’s personal
charisma, but I thought we were watching a much more experienced
stand-up.
Boogie thanked Arlene for warming up his
audience then went on not to tell jokes as much as share humorous
personal anecdotes which included his experience at the hands of an
endoscopy team at a local hospital. As he enacted the invasive
experience, we laughed as much with him as at him. He then went on to
enlighten us as to some of the more unusual callers to the radio
station.
If the applause was anything to go by the
voting could have gone either way. Whilst the votes were being counted
and verified we were treated to a set by Susan Morrison herself this
went down extremely well.
Finally the big moment came and Grant milked
the moment for all he could by presenting each competitor and their
mentors. Finally at last the announcement was made and the first ever
www.one4review.com trophy for the winner of Forth One’s Heckle and
Hide was presented to Boogie. Arlene received a wooden spoon in
recognition of her hard work.
I personally loved both sets but thought
Arlene’s just had a tiny spark more than Boogie’s but the voting was
indisputable and the score stands at Arlene 2 to Boogies 1. We look
forward to finding out what the next challenge will be.
Geoff's Appraisal of Contest
 Although both seasoned Radio professionals
Forth One’s breakfast show mainstays Boogie and his accomplice Arlene
Stewart were venturing into the unknown with the latest round of their
male v female contest. Stand–up comedy in front of a live audience.
With Boogie having lost the first two Strictly
Pole Dancing and Dancing on Smirnoff Ice to his glamorous co-presenter
so he really had to win this round, but Ms Stewart would want to make it
a hat trick.
Each acquired a mentor with ever-popular Craig
Hill for Boogie and Stand favourite Susan Morrison advising Arlene, but
that aside there performances differed greatly.
Although claiming to be nervous and not really
happy with the challenge Arlene ‘glammed’ up and looking very
confident, was immediately into  her set. Being slightly the older of the
two, she played on her age quite a lot, being very self-deprecating in
most of her stories. Possibly her material was aimed at the female
voters more than the males, however it was genuinely funny and we males
had the added pleasure of looking at this very attractive lady as well.
I really enjoyed her set, thought she had far more in her tank than was
delivered and she left us all looking for more.
Boogie on the other hand was more casually
dressed, tee shirt and jeans and appeared initially less confident that
his rival. However, he quickly discovered that maybe the slightly more
lavatorial style was more to his and maybe the audiences liking. He
managed to illustrate some of his set with almost mimes and soon grew in
confidence and found that he had more stuff than his time would allow. A
very good set however and plus marks for sussing the crowd.
Arlene said afterwards that she never wanted to
do it again, what a waste!! Perhaps the pair could join forces again,
well Edinburgh is the centre of the comedy world in August. Perhaps a
Fringe show? Oh and they could also persuade their tame colonial to help
them too.
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