| Free! Starring the best new stand-ups on the circuit: Alan Stick, Arnab Chanda, Dave
Nicholls, Matthew Crosby and Joe Wilkinson. Credits: winners and finalists of Hackney Empire, BBC,
Jongleurs, Channel 5's So You Think You're Funny and Laughing Horse competitions.
 Matthew Crosby deflated onto the
stand-up scene in Autumn 2004. Since then he's progressed at what one assumes is the regular pace. He
did a few 5 minute spots before some promoters asked if he could do 7-10 minutes. He was able to do
those after a few months. He wrote some more jokes and a few very kind promoters asked if he could try
and entertain audiences for 20 minutes. This process from 5 spot to occasional 20 spot took slightly
over a year and a half.
In 2005 he entered a bunch of competitions and found out that he just loves semi-finals:
Semi Finalist: Laughing Horse New
Act 2005
Semi Finalist: So You Think You're Funny 2005
Semi Finalist: BBC New Act 2005
"His self-confessed
"uncool" manner does not affect his comic timing and ability to interact well with an
audience." moles.co.uk
 Arnab Chanda was born in England and
lived there for 7 years, then spent 1 year in India, 8 years in Saudi Arabia, and 8 years in the U.S.
He moved back to London in August 2004 after 17 years of living abroad, where he continues to enjoy
getting mediocre responses from drunk and uninterested crowds.
He first tried stand-up in the New York City Open Mic scene in early 2004, quit after 6 agonizing
months, and then started again in early 2005 after returning to London. In 2005, he was eliminated in
the semi-finals of virtually every competition he entered.
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