The Butterfly Club, its walls festooned with curious objects and its stage open to upcoming cabaret performers, just turned ten. To celebrate the occasion, a variety show was held – strangely, at the Hi Fi Bar – showcasing some of the acts that the Butterfly Club originally nurtured.

And what a variety of acts they were. The Beautiful Losers veered gloriously from unsettling to the unspeakable, and Sammy J did an amusingly conflict-ridden double act with Randy the puppet. The cast of World War Wonderful impressed by not only being able to sing their 1940s-style numbers (with hilariously bad taste lyrics), but also being able to dance. Not many musical comedians can pull that off.

Less successful was Yana Alana, who seemed to cross the line from satirical feminist performance poetry to the real thing. Joanne O’Callaghan’s turn as Helene the French Maid’was tediously overlong, and Colin Lane’s fake incompetence schtick disappointed. And the Butterfly Glee Club, usually a weekly singalong to which anyone can join in, was understandably amateur and consequently not the best choice for a finale.

The show was also rather disorganised. The lighting was inconsistent, the sound operators put the wrong track on several times, and the MC kept coming in before the act had finished.

But the general standard of performance was high enough that these problems didn’t intrude greatly on the audience’s enjoyment of the show. Especially remarkable was the genuine emotions some acts managed to evoke. Ali McGregor’s rendition of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ to the accompaniment of a zither was heart-rending and spine-tingling, while Tim Minchin’s sweet, wistful ode to family Christmases left me surreptitiously wiping my eyes. There’s something you don’t get from a comedy show every day.

Happy birthday, Butterfly Club. May many more great cabaret talents emerge from your cocoon in years to come.

Finished reading this article? You might also like:

• The Festival Club: Kevin Brennan
• Luke & Wyatt – Albert’s Party
• Storytellers’ Club