This sold-out Sussex Beacon fundraiser scored numerous top-notch comedians from the Brighton Comedy Festival.

Unhurried, likeable compere Jo Brand was a safe pair of hands: no heckling, however incoherent, could phase her.

We saw an extraordinary range of characters and communication styles. Bullish Australian Adam Hills strutted across the stage discussing international differences and singing snatches of songs, while energetic Andi Osho immediately drew the crowd into her relationship dramas.

In contrast, nervy new dad Mark Watson was more concerned with his own inadequacies as a man in his 30s, while Andrew Lawrence sidled up to the mic awkwardly, speaking like a winsome Dickensian orphan, “Life is ’ard, I think, for the ginger man.”

Irish improv rap band Abandoman came up with some good lines inspired by objects from the audience for What’s In My Pocket? However, an incoherent attempt to improvise stories about two men from the crowd wasn’t helped by muddling their names: even the surprise addition of musician Ed Sheeran seemed an afterthought.

Authoritative Simon Evans, standing stock still at the microphone like a cross between a colonial administrator and an avuncular lecturer, drew some of the biggest laughs of the night.

Although Sean Lock performed last, perhaps the headliner should have been legendary curmudgeon Jack Dee, who set off waves of hysteria merely by standing and scowling. “I haven’t heard clapping like that since yesterday morning at Microsoft! Oh come on,” he chided the Apple-loving booers, “When else am I going to get to use that?”