American comic Tom Rhodes has a slight problem with his short term memory. Not only has he fluffed one of his lines, he has forgotten his closing joke and is currently reassuring the audience that even through they aren’t going to hear his ‘pièce de résistance’ it is quite funny.

To be fair, he can be excused the slight lapse of concentration. It is 2am and his very presence on stage is being threatened by the French police who have massed - dog's in hand - outside the tiny venue of Jack’s Bar in the ski resort of Meribel, France.

A night in the cells is enough to put anyone off their set but what we did catch of Rhodes showed is exactly why he is missed in the UK. The evening’s headline comedian managed to provide the Altitude crowd with some excellent observational comedy.

Read the Altitude preview with Marcus Brigstocke here....

Welcome to day three of Altitude Festival. The comedy compendium, which kicked off last Saturday, has already seen the likes of Mitch Benn perform in French, Milton Jones fly in for a trip as short as his accomplished one liners and Ardal O’Hanlon try his hand at snowboarding.

Highlights so far include Katie Tunstall performing a benefit gig on behalf of the WWF (and is rumoured to be doing an open mic spot in a local bar), Brandon Block falling on his arse and Marcus Brigstocke learning that comedy in a different language can be a bit of a tongue twister.

Brigstocke was performing at the Franglais Chaud, a show where French speaking acts must perform in English and English acts in French.

As the advert says: 'They said it would never work – it doesn’t really, come and laugh anyway’.

It is an apt description. The stage seemed to be set for Brigstocke to show himself up. Though the comedian is competent in French, he found out the hard way that you cannot deliver punch lines as succinctly as you think when you are still conjugating ther right verb.

The routine, which was half improvised, made for great viewing as Brigstocke relived what looked like the A'level oral exam from hell, listing the kinds of food he likes before entering into argument about the superiority of cheddar cheese and giving expert advice on why the British are fond of jelly.

Yet, for every comedian who was brought to their knees due to the language barrier another managed to flourish. Nick Doody was visibly surprised as he translated jokes between languages on the spot and the experimental nature of the allowing French and English comedians to share the same stage is something to be lauded.

Comedy doesn't have a history of influencing international relations but for one night Altitude managed to create an new entente cordial. Trebien monsieurs!

Tim Clark

Such Small Portions will be reporting live from the Altitude Comedy Festival 2009 all week! Check the homepage for the most recent blogs!

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