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.
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.
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