Yet another night of stellar entertainment that put more money in the coffers for the Orphanage Fund. A huge thanks to the five brave souls who were commandeered and so willingly gave 8 minutes of their lives to entertain the 80 or so people who showed up tonight at the Cotton Club for Round II of the 2013 Gift of the Gab.

First up was the last-minute stand-in Attila Szabó. Atis  very graciously agreed to take Hans Peterson's place when Hans was captured by vampires mid-last-week. No stranger to the stage, Atis regaled us with tales of his experience as a Wedding Emcee, particularly in intercultural situations. No one is still quite clear which half of the Irish Hungarian wedding was Irish. Next up was Zoran Spisljak, the man responsibile for bringing Debrecen to the Champion's league... and that's the whole of Debrecen, including the néni with her Tesco's shopping bag. Third in the draw was Emese Doboyni who took us on a tour of the ghettos of Ghana and gave us some food for thought. Tis not for nothing that they named her the Iron Lady. Ken White was in the fourth slot and shared his experiences of working in a call centre here in Budapest. Seems like they could do with a scriptwriter to account for what to say when trying to selll life insurance to those recently deceased. Finally Tim Child took to the stage and built his talk around the classic quote - England and American are two nations divided by the one language. [MM: And it had a beginning, a middle, and an end - someone finally listened....]

Heading in to the second half, where public speaking morphs into speaking in public, Emese was first to draw. She went for her first topic - Buda or Pest - and having listened to the comments from the judges (a particularly tough panel tonight) she made full use of the stage as she made her case as  a Buda gal living in Pest. Next up, Atis had went for the double and let the audience choose between The wart on my big toe and Bacterial Love. The audience was determined to test him and he did a great job of explaining bacterial love in the hightest-scoring speech of the night. Next up Ken had a choice between Three wishes from a goldfish and the Worst chat-up lines. The audience plumbed for the latter .... and man, were those chat-up lines baaaaad! Zoran had a choice between Budapest clubs and tattoos and the audience went for tattoos. Talk about a last-minute save! That notion of having the Queen tattoed on one side of his chest, and Lady Diana on the other and living with the confronation - inspired. Tim drew The perfect penalty shot and The benefits of marriage. As no great lover of football and with one marriage behind him and another under negotation, the audience went for the benefits. Tim's still in negotiation.

The judges - Josie (New Zealand), Patrick (Scotland), Tunde (Hungary), Viktor (Hungary), and Eve (Norway)  - took account of the audience's reaction... for the most part. A few stray points were handed out for nice asses, great earrings, and loud shirts (ahem) and at times it seemed as some had been in a different room - but that's what puts the slam into the Gift of the Gab. It's about impressions. It's unpredictable. And it's never boring.

Thanks again to our sponsors this evening: IHBC for the trophy, Donal and Mirtil Kerry for the bottle of Jameson, and Jack Doyle's for picking up the room rental tab. Thanks also to the crew - Jeremy, Ilona and Kath - and a huge thank  you to the anonymous donor who gave above and beyond and pushed this week's takings over the 100k mark. Yes - we have added 110,000  forints to the kitty for the Orphanage. Those new doors are becoming a reality.

Best of all though, FOUR MORE PEOPLE, all inspired by the success of our non-native-English-speaking competitors, volunteered to take to the stage in January and February which means that just two rounds in, spaces are limited! {Be still my beating heart....] So if you're thinking about it - now's the time to get moving.

Oops - I nearly forgot... and the winner this month, securing a place in the final in March, is Zoran Spisljak. Congrats to all and a HUGE HUGE thank you to everyone for turning up tonight and making this event such a success.

Ta very much to Charles and Elvi at Jack Doyle's who will pick up the tab for the room rental for Round II of the GOTG next Wednesday, October 24th. Nice one, lads. Much appreciated. With sponsors like this, it means that literally every forint taken at the door goes to the Orphanage. mmmm - could this be a new business model in the making? We raised 80 000 ft last month and aim to do the same, if not better, this month. So bring your friends, your mothers, your grannies,e even your next-door neighbours...

We've a great line-up (one minor modification to the menu will publish later this week) and some great speeches to be heard - not that I've heard any of them - I'm just going on form. Where's the bookie when you need one, eh?

There's a lovely looking bottle of Jameson sitting inside my front door, dropped off today by Mr Donal Kerry and donated by the good man himself and his wife Mirtil and the booze prize for the successful Round II contestant. They've not yet been to the Gift of the Gab but are promising to take a trip in from the Budapest hinterlands one Wednesday night and check it out themselves. It's great to see that those who haven't witnessed the marvel that is GOTG first hand are eager and willing to support the cause. Nice one, lads. Thanks!

Want. Want. Want. I know. I know. I know. It seems like everyone is asking of everyone these days and I'm no exception. In a modest effort to get ahead of myself and actually remove some of the last-minute panic from this season's proceedings, I'm trying to get organised. The IHBC has generously sponsored the trophies for the whole season (invoice in the mail Gerard!). Last month, Des and Judy Nix donated a bottle of the finest Irish, and SpeechPoint covered the room rental.  This month, and for all months in fact,  I'm looking for bottle sponsors and sponsorship towards the room rental. We were so lucky last season because Kenny and Terry from Smiley's didn't charge us for the room and all the monies raised could go to the orphanage. This season (part of the drawback of getting bigger and needing more room) we need to pay for the venue. It galls me to have to take 25 000 ft + VAT from the proceeds each month, when that money could be better spent on stuff the lads at the Topház need. So I'm appealing to your better natures. Even partial sponsorship of the rent would be greatly appreciated. E-mail me at gotg@speechslam.com

And, as always, if you want to donate above and beyond the 1000 ft entry free, I'm more than happy to take your money :-)

There's a gang heading to the orphanage tomorrow to do some gardening and some painting. Check the IHBC Facebook page for more details and think about joining them.