MARTIN DAVIS

Looking like some bizarre marionette tug-of-love struggle between Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, Martin Davis skids and bounces across the stage, strung up and tugged around by unknown forces, firing off a relentless rapid-fire assault that hits every corner of the room and kills 100% of all known hecklers stone dead. Going where mere joke-tellers fear to tread with his characteristic kamikaze bravado (''Go on, heckle me!'') he walks the razor edge of audience participation, daring them to pick him off it.

''Electric, Sharp, With A Sympathetic Face That Looks Like It Was Carved By A Polynesian Shaman'' Iain Macdonald, Cape Argus

His skill in warming up the chilliest rooms and turning the stoniest punters into soft putty in his hands makes Martin Davis the comics favourite MC. With enough nervous energy to power a small city, Martin is the Jolt Cola of the circuit. Advice would be: connect up the microphone, shout ''Clear'' and stand well back!

''The Star Of The Evening, For My Money, Was Compere Martin Davis, A Cockney Stuffed With Mercurial Welsh Genes (Surely?), Who Had Abrasive Wit, Tons Of Energy And An Unparalleled Ability To Talk Dirty Without Causing Too Much Offence'' The Mercury

''On The Ball, Davis, a consummate professional, never dies.'' - Cape Times, 1999.