Seeing a Footlights Smoker is one of those ‘Cambridge’ things that you apparently just ‘have to do’ while you’re here. Cynic that I am, I spent my first two years steadfastly lumping it in the same category as Trinity May Ball, the UL, queuing for three hours at the Union to see Robert Downey Jr. and rowing: a category labelled Probably Not Worth The Hype.

However, as third year ground slowly onwards, I gave in and impulsively signed up to review last night’s Smoker, primarily to distract myself from a US-elections-induced sense of impending doom. Justified though my gut feeling ended up being, I have the Footlights to thank for thoroughly entertaining me during one of my last pre-President Trump carefree hours.

The performers were probably aware that most of the audience were looking to take their minds off the increasingly unfunny joke that was Trump’s candidacy, and to their credit resisted the temptation to make cheap election gags in a bid to be current. Instead, the sketches and stand-up were clever, quirky and generally really funny. Reviews of comedy tend to either ruin the jokes by retelling them badly, or in a bid to avoid this, instead vaguely describe some of what happened and promise the reader that it was hilarious. I will do the latter.

Some of the standout stand-up included an excited retelling of Aldi Cambridge’s reopening involving the Queen, as well as the funniest eulogy I have personally ever heard (though the others were at actual funerals so don’t really compete). The top sketches of the night were one on the value of Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Awards that just kept on giving, and a very clever meta-skit involving an aeroplane pilot, Sol Campbell and an asparagus.

Many of the best moments of the Smoker came from non-Footlights given a chance to perform alongside members of the troupe. A fresher called Leo marked himself out as one to watch with a great routine on turning 18, Tinder and coming out, while Patrick Wilson proved that being able to laugh at yourself is a great way to make others laugh too. Perhaps the best audience reaction of the night went to a song by a woman whose name I do not know but whose description of carving a statue of her crush out of kebab meat will stay with me forever.
What robbed the show of its otherwise deserved fifth star was the slightly excessive length of some of the sketches, in which the central joke just didn’t quite have the legs to be repeated so much. Loath as I am to single out performers, I would advise future Footlights that a joke about John Malkovich not being cast in Being John Malkovich is only funny the first three times.

So, overall, the Footlights were worth the hype, and I would advise cynics of any age to snap up a ticket next time you need an hour of comedy to distract you from the impending catastrophe engulfing Western civilisation. With strong talent both within the current Footlights and coming into its future ranks, their Smokers seem set to remain the gold standard of student comedy in Cambridge