David Behrens sees if some local comics have got what it takes to take the stage when the Comedy Store comes to town.

'There's a TV crew here tonight", said Don Ward, founder and owner of London's Comedy Store. "Don't let that put you off."

The 16 comics nervously pacing the floor of the Alhambra Studio looked unlikely to have been put off by fire or pestilence, let alone Look North.

It was a damp Bradford evening and they had come in out of the rain because they wanted to be stars. This was their chance to impress someone important.

Don Ward is the Godfather of British comedy, some say. His West End club has been a launchpad for most of the top stand-up comics working today.

Now, for the first time, he had forsaken the capital and travelled north in his search for new talent.

The Alhambra Studio is empty save for the auditioners, the staff and the TV crew, as Ward gets to his feet.

"What we're looking for tonight is four minutes - please keep it tight," he tells the comics. Four of the 16 will go through to an Open Mike spot at the Comedy Store's one and only Bradford gig, next Friday at St George's Hall. One of those will go on to a national final in London.

The other 12 will return to the drizzly cobbles of Morley Street, and back to the day job. "I wish you all the very best of luck. Let's have a good one," says Ward, who then wonders aloud why no women ever turn up to these events.

The first comic to step on to the makeshift stage is called Billy Bedlam. He is a spherical, red-nosed man wearing a polka-dot shirt and baggy trousers. He carries a tray of props covered with a coloured tablecloth.

He blows loudly on a bugle. "Not too loud, is it? The costume, I mean."

It's a polished act, and Billy is clearly an old hand. He's come from Blackpool, he says, and there's no doubt he goes down a storm with the seaside crowds. Sadly, his end-of-the-pier brand of variety is not what Don Ward wants at the Comedy Store.

As he clears the stage, the other comics are told to stand down because Look North needs it for a live feed into its nightly programme.

A reporter called Tom something has removed his tie to signal that this is a "light" item and has begun to intone, from what sounds like a mouth full of marbles: "I'll be reporting live from Bradford where a bunch of northern comedians will be hoping that a bit of Yorkshire grit will take them to the top." There are few things more painful than a journalist trying to do light entertainment.

With Look North packed up and gone, the next comedian takes to the stage. Michael O'Brien sports a leather jacket over a loose sweater. His hair is greying and his glasses are metal rimmed. It is obvious he has not done this before. "Boilers, boilers," he improvises. "That's a funny word, isn't it? Sometimes it's a woman and sometimes it's a tin thing full of water."

Then he dries up. The other comedians in the audience chuckle politely. Chuckling comes easily to them because they know the guy hasn't got a prayer.

Afterwards, he tells me that his ambition lies in writing plays. He is staging one soon at Bradford University's Theatre in the Mill. Its title is not printable in a family newspaper.

How does he think his act went tonight? "I don't know, really. This is obviously a highly critical audience," he muses.

"It wasn't worth scripting anything for four minutes, so I thought I'd just speak off the cuff. The thing is, you can do that in a room with a few friends but in front of an audience it's not so easy.

"I need to look people more in the eye, and maybe I need to learn some of the routines off by heart, instead of trying to wing it."

As we talk, the next comedian is getting into his stride, only to be interrupted by the sound of Don Ward's mobile phone. It has been a cruel evening.

Ward decides later that the acts to go on to St George's Hall next Friday will be Saltaire-based Mark Rough and Bradford University student Jon Hamblin, plus TJ Murphy and Anthony J Brown. They will appear as a curtain-raiser to professionals Sean Meo, Roger Monkhouse, Simon Bligh and Paul Zenon. Fred Macaulay, a regular of TV panel games like Have I Got News For You, will host the evening.

How will the new boys get on? Watch this space.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.