Welcome back to another month of stuff. We’ve got a few Weekender announcements in here. Some talk on gigs, obviously. A little trip down memory lane and a photo of my Mums dog…
What happened at The Crate in February? Well, let me tell you…
Someone convinced me to write monthly content. So here’s the start….
January
We started the year with the same plans as usual. Locking in our Festival dates, planning for our Edinburgh preview season. The conversation we always have starts the same, “Are we really going to do another Weekend Festival?”. Spoiler alert, it’s a lot of work, it’s tiring, but we always come back to the same point.. it’s a lot of fun.
We also had three great shows at The Charles Bradlaugh, The Picturedrome and a Charity event For Harry’s Pals in Daventry. We try to avoid too many events this month, many people try the dry January and let’s be honest, we’re all trying to recover from Christmas. Nathan Caton headlined a packed Bradlaugh, one of our favourite acts on the circuit. Nathan is so calm and collected on and off stage, an incredible joke writer, he should definitely be on TV a lot more!
February
In February we did our first event on the grounds of the new Northampton University, booking in three months worth of shows at the Waterside bar. Now the venue is great, it is a really nice room. We booked these shows with the mindset of having a predominantly younger audience, it’s on the Uni campus after all. Unfortunately it didn’t quite play out that way. We did get some great crowds though thanks to some of our regulars, and met some really nice people and worked with brilliant acts we’ve never worked with before. Are the tides shifting, is Tik Tok destroying the art form of stand up comedy? Maybe younger people just don’t care enough about live entertainment, or maybe it was because it wasn’t free. Who knows, if you’ve got the answers, pop them on a postcard.
We also returned to St Neots, a massive shout out to Ryan Mold who has been looking after these nights all year for us doing an amazing job. Every 3 months we end up doing 3 gigs on the first Thursday, myself in Stanwick, Mike at the Picturedrome and Ryan in St Neots. Having acts travel between venues, it’s a comic’s dream and often a promoter’s nightmare. If one show isn’t in sync with another, it can all go pear shaped.
This month was also an interesting one as we’d had conversations with the guys at The Comedy Cow in Milton Keynes about putting on a show at Franklin’s Gardens Stadium. At the time this sounded absolutely insane, putting a stage on the pitch facing one of the stands to potentially a few thousand people. This was the start of our first collaboration…
First show at St Neots in 2023, Ryan Mold, Esther Manito, Fatiha El-Ghorri and Jonny Awsum.
March
In March we were lucky enough to host Josh Pugh’s debut tour show in Northampton. We remember having Josh perform at one of our new act nights at The Lamplighter years ago. We knew this guy would sky rocket eventually, such a great guy and an excellent comic. We did in fact ask Josh if we could be part of his first tour, and to be honest he didn’t have to say yes. Josh was doing much larger rooms at the time, so it was a real pleasure to get this in Northampton.
We also kicked off the first WiFi Wars of the year. These guys will be back in the new year, so check these shows out. They are a lot of fun for all ages! After a short winter break we were back at The Duke of Wellington in Stanwick, who managed to sell out every gig we did there this year. We’d like to thank everyone there as well as Noreen Wallace who originally mentioned comedy to the venue. We’ve had some absolute belters in The Barn this year.
APRIL
April saw us host another debut tour, this time with the brilliant Jacob Hawley. We managed to shift enough tickets to make this a really nice gig. Shoutout to Maggie, one of our regulars who gave us a hilarious moment in the opening section when it was revealed a guy in the audience worked for the Council. Jacob asked whether anyone needed anything sorting whilst we had someone, and Maggie didn’t hesitate! It’s one of those rare gems you get from going to live events where you really had to be there. Jacob enjoyed it so much he wanted to come back. 24th April 2024, tickets on sale NOW.
This month we also took a punt on someone we had never worked with before for a mixed bill event. Jamie Hutchinson. The moment Jamie got started you could see straight away, this guy was going to make something happen. In that room on that night, he made a lot of people remember him. Needless to say at the end of that show we had booked another tour show at The Charles Bradlaugh, more on this in October.
MAY
In May we had two of the best acts around in Matt Bragg and Scott Bennett on the same bill. But we also had one of those moments where you see a newer act you’ve never worked with before and they blow your socks off. Great work James Ellis.
We also had our second night in Daventry for the amazing Harry's Pals charity (www.harryspals.co.uk) headlined by the incredible Alan Hudson of Hudson and Hudson.
JUNE
So in June we did in fact pull off our largest gig to date at Franklin's Gardens Stadium. It was definitely an experience. We were lucky enough to have Al Murray, Milton Jones, Laura Smyth and Lou Conran on the bill. Organising that gig was unlike anything we have done before, and we can reveal that we are currently in talks to put another show on there this year with our friends at The Comedy Cow. We’ve always spoken about how incredible it is being in a room full of people all laughing at the same things, and getting to do that on a much larger scale, is a sight we’ll never forget. Plus it was a lovely summer's day, although a little windy. I remember we had to cable tie all roller banners to posts and gates so we didn’t cause chaos. I think I also broke my own record for the most steps done in a day as I was tasked with walking the acts to the stage. I won’t reveal what that number is, I work in an office 9-5, so the bar is low ok…
The Northampton Comedy Festival. Few months prior, we had a conversation with Northampton Town Centre BID. These guys do great work supporting and developing the town centre. Now we all know there are a lot of things that need improving in Northampton town centre, but there is only so much you can do with limited funding and resources, and we couldn’t be more grateful that the lovely people at BID wanted to get behind us to put on a Northampton Comedy Festival. We put on 8 different preview shows as well as the weekender over June and July. This meant we got to do some new venues, Cheyne Walk Club, VandB, Shipmans and the Northampton Town Centre Hotel, Queen Adelaide, as well as some more familiar ones, Saints Coffee, The Charles Bradlaugh, The Lamplighter and The Black Prince.
It was also around this time we thought our logo was overdue for a makeover. Thanks to Dan Earey for the new design.
JULY
So many Edinburgh Previews this month, we can’t go through them all. But needless to say the Weekender was tiring, it was stressful, but it WAS a lot of fun. There is something really enjoyable in putting on an event that involves people moving between venues, talking about who they’re going to see next. There is a real community feel to it.
We also did a mixed bill at the Picturedrome, the reason we mention this is friend of Crate Tom Toal had recommended one of his friends to us. A guy named Jack Skipper, someone we knew had been making a name for themselves through viral videos during lockdown, and was now taking a plunge into the world of stand up. There was a real moment when myself and Mike looked at each in disbelief when we saw a queue form of people waiting to get selfies with Jack. Fair play to him though, he’s going to be a big name in the future.
Oh yes, we also got to attend an award ceremony. We were finalists for Best Small Business and Best Indoor/Outdoor Activity in the NLife awards. It was very surprising to get the initial nomination, and although we didn’t win, we got some recognition for a hobby that’s taken over our lives. Live comedy is thriving and the more people that know, the more it will grow. So it really helped spread the word.
We held another event with the Comedy Cow at MK11, putting on a work in progress show with Paul Chowdhry. This show sold out in less than 24 hours, the admin was frantic.
Mike thought it would be funny to add how our big summer of comedy ended. We were packing away at Cheyne Walk Club, we’d had 41 acts over the course of a month and a bit doing Edinburgh Previews around Northamptonshire. I was dismantling the stage and as I lifted one of the panels to stack up against the wall I must have tripped. What can only be described as one of those slow motion scenes, my wife thought she’d dive in and take a bullet, attempting to catch me and this stage panel. Only slowing the inevitable even more, as I clatter into her, then onto the floor in a heap of embarrassment. “It’s not all glamour.” - Mike Chase
Also when you book Tom Stade, you have to be prepared to stick around for a bit afterwards.
Photo of Abandoman tearing it up as he always does on our weekender.
AUGUST
Generally August is our month off, a potential opportunity to go up to the Edinburgh Fringe and see EVEN MORE comedy. Not this year though, we opted for more of a standard break after a few busy months. However we did do one night, at the Picturedrome and Stanwick. Opening and closing these venues were Sean McLoughlin and Alistair Barrie. Top drawer acts.
SEPTEMBER
This month saw us start at a new venue, The Plaza in Thrapston. Our first line up included Ninia Benjamin, Ian Stone, Stephen Cookson and Ross Smith. It was as fun as the line up suggests. I ended up having a really fascinating conversation with Ian Stone, who as it turns out after talking about Fleetwood Mac, is a huge music fan. Ian wrote a book about his love for music in the 70’s and more specifically The Jam. It’s called To Be Someone, add it to your bookshelf or Kindle.
Headlining the Bradlaugh was someone we hadn’t seen in a few years. Sarah Keyworth. An absolute gem on the circuit, so effortless in her delivery and so so funny!
Let’s not forget we were also treated to a work in progress show from the wonderful Troy Hawke. Someone we’ve been big fans of now for many years. It’s always exciting to see which direction he’s taking a new show. Always a pleasure to work with and we’re so happy to see him getting so many more opportunities.
Here’s a photo of Ninia Benjamin giving Ross Smith some tips on hugging.
OCTOBER
Jamie Hutchinson’s tour show sold out well in advance in Northampton. A guy who has no TV credits, hasn’t been headlining all the big clubs up and down the country and isn’t with a big agency. Credit to him for making a huge success of his debut tour. With so many new faces coming out to comedy as well, it was a great night.
Oh and let’s not forget the Bradlaugh show. We have tried many times to book Jordan Brookes. A personal favourite, and boy was it worth the persistence. Often conversations occur where people ask about memorable moments and this one has thrown itself into my top 3. (Yes Phil Kay is still in that mix, if you were there then you know why…)
We also did another gig at Vox Box in Hull. Big thanks to Jack Gleadow for looking after this one for us and taking the Crate up North, not physically, unfortunately they don’t let Crates travel alone on the train. There was also our first mixed bill night at VandB, where President Obonjo was on fine form.
NOVEMBER
In 2023 we got the opportunity to host another round of British Comedian Of The Year, but not just any round, this time we got a Semi Final. Standards were high, but the result seemed inevitable in the end. Congratulations Mike Cox for reaching the final and to all of the acts for getting into the Semis, a fun night that really has a bit of something for everyone.
We also witnessed what can only be described as a near death experience, not the kinda death you’d expect the odd comedian to experience on stage, let us explain. When MC Hammersmith is tearing the room up and someone suggests he does a backflip, we don’t necessarily expect a situation to unfold where four grown men rotate another grown man in the air whilst he continues to rap. Yes, that happened, and yes it was hilarious.
New venue was added this month at Newnham Village hall (thank you Rachael Shenton). This gig worked really well, thanks for having us! Shout out to Cornelius, you read that right, Newnham has a Cornelius. The gig was headlined by the sublime Roger Monkhouse. Roger then did another gig for us a week later, in the first week of December. We couldn’t not take this photo. (Right to left, Roger Monkhouse, Kent Cameron, Peter Teckman, Stuart Hogben).
DECEMBER
We ended the year on a real high. All of the December shows were surprisingly nice! December has a reputation on the comedy scene for potentially more ‘lively’ crowds. Primarily due to the fact you have more work do’s and people going out to shows who wouldn’t ordinarily go, and of course people tend to drink a lot more around this time of year. BUT, overall it was great!
Quick mention from our last gig of the year at the Charles Bradlaugh, we opted to book 2 middle 10’s, which we don’t do very often, and Nuala Ryan and Jin Hao Li did a fantastic job. We hope to see those guys smashing the comedy clubs next year.
We decided to have our festival conversation a bit earlier than usual, and guess what. We’re going again… See you next year! (July 20th & 21st, tickets on sale now)
To all our regulars and helpers (Iain Simpkins, Stuart Hogben, Pete Teckman and Ryan Mold), you keep this club alive, so thank you, you absolute legends. Thanks to all the venues we’ve worked with in 2023 and of course all the acts that have travelled far and wide to entertain our crowds. To each and every person who shares a post, tells a friend, buys a ticket, spreads the word in any way. We can’t thank you enough.
Now onto the next one. See you next year!
Kj & Mike
P.S. Let’s not forget our partners who to be fair, put up with an awful lot. Listening to us rabbit on about comedy, helping us out at events, giving us the support and motivation we need to make this ‘hobby’ a success.
From left to right (Paul Revill, Jin Hao Li, Josh Pugh, Nuala Ryan, Mike Chase, Kj Bradshaw)
The Northampton Comedy Festival
This year we’re going bigger than ever before! Over the years we’ve been shown incredible amounts of support from local people. We’ve always wanted to provide competitive pricing for great nights out whilst supporting local venues. So we are attempting a few big things this year that we never thought would be possible.
So firstly we are attempting to make history at cinch Stadium with a mixed bill event with the legendary Al Murray, Milton Jones, Lou Conran and Laura Smyth on Friday 9th June. Tickets are available HERE.
Following on from there we are kicking off our Edinburgh Preview season which we have organised with Northampton BID.
Press release below:
Some of the UK’s top comics will be coming to Northampton for the town’s first-ever dedicated comedy festival, with many acts using it as a warm-up on route to the Edinburgh Fringe.
More than 40 comedians have been booked to appear at multiple venues across the town centre as part of a month-long series of gigs, including top names such as Jo Caulfield, Tom Stade and Paul Sinha.
The festival, which takes place over four weeks between Wednesday, 28 June and Friday, 28 July, has been organised by locally based promoters The Comedy Crate with support from Northampton Town Centre Business Improvement District.
Venues hosting performances include Saints Coffee, Cheyne Walk Club, the Park Inn and VandB.
Mark Mullen, operations manager of Northampton Town Centre BID, said: “We are always looking for ways to give people more reasons to visit our town centre and the Northampton Comedy Festival does just that. This is an opportunity to see big names in intimate venues as they prepare their material for shows on the nation’s biggest stage.
“It’s going to be a month of good times with good company as the town comes together to have a laugh
in some of the town’s brilliant venues, from coffee shops and hotels to pubs and clubs.”
The focal point of the festival will be a ‘weekender’ on 8-9 July, when 25 acts will appear across three stages in the Charles Bradlaugh, The Black Prince and The Lamplighter. Featuring acts like Darren Harriott, Paul Foot, Jessica Fostekew, Josh Pugh and more…
Mike Chase from The Comedy Crate said: “We are delighted to partner up with Northampton Town Centre BID to bring you over 40 acts that are warming up either for Edinburgh or for their tour shows.
“All of the shows are at bargain prices, giving you the chance to watch TV acts, circuit headliners and stars of the future without travelling hundreds of miles and paying thousands for accommodation. Please get behind your local independent comedy club and make this a festival to remember.”
Wi-Fi Wars
Do you like games? Does your kids/ nephews/ nieces/ cousins, like games?
Well… how about joining us at The Charles Bradlaugh on September 11th for a live comedy game show where we all play along?!
There is a kids show at 4pm recommended for ages 6+. Then an evening show at 7.30pm recommended for ages 12+.
Here’s some information on the show:
Log in with your smartphone or tablet and compete in a range of games, quizzes and challenges to win the show. Hosted by comedian and regular videogames commentator Steve McNeil (Team Captain on Dara O Briain's Go 8 Bit, host/regular on Challenge TV's Videogame Nation), the show was first performed as part of the Royal Institution's 2015 Summer Programme after Steve and Rob Sedgebeer's appearance on their 2014 BBC Christmas Lectures. In 2016 they returned with a new show, at which they broke the Guinness World Record for "Most People Playing A Single Game of Pong" (286 people, the previous record was 251)
This will be a lot of fun. We hope you’ll join us and help spread the word! :)
Edinburgh Fringe Preview Season
We’ve had quite a few Edinburgh Previews and Work in progress shows so far this year. We wanted to thank all the brilliant acts who have joined us with their new shows, and to everyone that bought tickets to any of these events.
If you’re going up to Edinburgh Fringe this year, we hope you have a blast! We have made a list of all the acts who we’ve had so far this year so you can check them out at the Festival and support their shows.
Ryan Mold - Generation Gap
Just the Tonic at The Mash House - Just the Attic -12:00
Josh Pugh: Sausage, Egg, Josh Pugh, Chips and Beans
Monkey Barrel Comedy - Monkey Barrel 4 - 14:10
Angela Barnes: Hot Mess
Pleasance Courtyard - Cabaret Bar - 19:00
Nick Helm: What Have We Become?
Pleasance Dome - QueenDome - 17:25
Harriet Kemsley: Honeysuckle Island
Monkey Barrel Comedy (Carnivore) - Carnivore 2 - 21:10
Hal Cruttenden: It's Best You Hear It From Me
Pleasance Courtyard - Pleasance Two - 20:10
Daniel Foxx & Kate Martin
Laughing Horse @ Dragonfly - Main Room - 22:30
Garrett Millerick: Just Trying to Help
Monkey Barrel Comedy - Monkey Barrel 4 - 18:25
Esther Manito: #NotAllMen
Gilded Balloon Teviot - Wee Room - 19:20
Sara Barron: Hard Feelings
Pleasance Courtyard - Upstairs - 19:15
Norris and Parker: Sirens
Monkey Barrel Comedy - Monkey Barrel 4 - 21:15
Markus Birdman – The Bearable Heaviness of Nearly Not Being
PBH's Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth - Cinema Room - 17:10
Free Entry
Mark Simmons: Quip Off the Mark
PBH's Free Fringe @ Liquid Room Annexe/Warehouse - Annexe - 13:45
Free Entry
Paul Sinha: One Sinha Lifetime
The Stand’s New Town Theatre - Lower Hall - 16:40
Abandoman aka Rob Broderick: Discography
Underbelly, George Square - Udderbelly - 21:25
Larry Dean: Fudnut
Monkey Barrel Comedy - Monkey Barrel 3 - 20:30
Paul McCaffrey: We Go Again
Underbelly, Cowgate - Belly Laugh - 19:25
Glenn Moore: Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me, Glenn I'm Sixty Moore
Pleasance Courtyard - Cabaret Bar - 16:05
Leave a comment below on who your highlights have been so far.
For those of you going up to the Fringe, who you most looking forward to seeing?
Sunday June 12th
It’s that time of the year again where hundreds of comedians and performers prepare to take their shows up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August. As a result so many acts need stage time to test their shows, which is why around this time we like to book in various Edinburgh Preview shows to support live comedy.
We’ve got one coming up this Sunday at The Old Savoy on Abington Square. It’s an all day event, from 2pm - 9:30pm. We’ve got 5 Edinburgh preview shows from the likes of Nick Helm, Angela Barnes, Hal Cruttenden, Harriet Kemsley, Peter Rethinasamy and Daniel Foxx.
There will be half hour intervals between each show, with 1 hour long interval between 6-7pm where food will be available at the venue.
This is an opportunity to see 5 hour long shows for just £25. It’s a full day of comedy and guaranteed to be a lot of fun with a great mixture of acts! For more information on the shows, click HERE. For tickets see below. If you have any questions please feel free to email us at welovecrates@gmail.com
We hope to see you there!
Just A Little Bit Of History - From Kj Bradshaw
I’ve always had a fascination with stand up comedy. It started at a young age, I had VHS tapes of Joe Pasquale and saw him a few times at The Royal & Derngate as a kid (Don’t judge, I was young). This lead me on a path of wanting to discover all types of comedy over the years, getting my hands on anything from Lee Evans to Richard Pryor. I also had an old recording of Lenny Bruce who paved the way for free speech in comedy in the 50s and 60s. Even the history of it was something I wanted to dive into. I read Rik Mayall’s autobiography when I was 16, still to this day it has the best self indulgent book title, it’s a brilliant read. But I digress!
Before we started running comedy events, I had compiled a collection of over 400 stand up comedy DVD’s. It’s a world record, not one of those cool Guiness World Records, but an online one on Record Setter…not sure if that counts. I stopped at 426 when DVD’s were becoming obsolete and Youtube, Netflix and Amazon were taking over with their own comedy specials.
This obsession with watching stand up in 2015 made me want to discover even more comics through the crazy world of the internet. I even searched for mobile apps that might be around at the time and realised there wasn’t many options. I did find this American app that was free to download and all it was, was a list of Youtube links you could click to watch snippets of American comics. It was very basic, yet it had over a million downloads, and that’s when the lightbulb went off…
Later that year I started working on my own app, with no knowledge or experience with coding, I put together something that I called The Comedy Crate. I’m not going to blow smoke up my own ass, it wasn’t great. But essentially what it did was create a mini database where people could look up their favourite comics through an A-Z page of hundreds of acts, look at Youtube clips, find their website, social media pages and also find out where their gigging etc.
In 2016 I made the decision to go up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a couple of friends for the first time. I also thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try and sell this app to like minded people. I went up with flyers, t-shirts, I paid out of my own pocket to get this app on the Play Store and Apple Store. I stood out in the crowds and handed out flyers and I dumped plenty in various venues. Spoiler alert, it didn’t work, however what it did was open a door I didn’t know existed….
Going back a few months prior to the Fringe Festival, I got a call from an old friend Conor. He’d noticed the app through my Facebook page and wanted to chat comedy, said him and a guy called Mike were thinking of starting a comedy night in Northampton and asked if I’d be interested in getting involved… it was a no brainer.
I didn’t think much of at it the time but we all met up at The Comedy Cow Festival and talked about this idea. I met Mike Chase who we quickly established was the business head of the operation. The one big thing we all had in common was we loved watching comedy, we were all just fans who wanted to put on a night we’d all like to go to and we all brought different things to the table.
After the inevitable lesson learned from the app, I wanted to dive into something that scratched that comedy itch. After a few meetings, we had decided to use the name of the app, but change the logo. Rightly so, Conor was quick to say my initial logo for the app looked like a guy holding a… well take a look below and you’ll see for yourself, it could be misconstrued.
That was when Crate face was born.
Tuesday 17th May at The Wheatsheaf
Tomorrow night we’re back at The Wheatsheaf in Dallington Village for another free entry, pay what you want comedy night. We’ve got 6 acts and our MC Ben Aveling.
These nights consist of acts trying out new material or new acts perfecting their set to perform at bigger clubs up and down the country. It’s essentially a workshop, and the only way to know if you’ve written something funny is to say it in front of a crowd full of strangers right? And let’s be honest, Northampton has been the testing ground for things like Chip & Pin, delivery robots, so why not comedy…
These nights are a lot of fun, it’s relaxed, in an intimate space. Talk to someone who has been watching stand up for a long time, they’ll likely have a story about how they saw one of the big TV acts in a small pub years ago before they made it big.
We don’t charge an entry fee for these nights, we don’t make any money on these nights. We put our time and effort in to support the acts, local venues and to give people something else to do on a Tuesday evening. We do a bucket split at the end and all the money taken after the shows is split between the comics to contribute towards their travel costs.
If you fancy it, we’ll be kicking off at 8pm tomorrow night. Or it’s the 3rd Tuesday of the month at The Wheatsheaf in Dallington Village. They do some great food as well, so why not pop down a bit earlier and check it out.
So this coming Thursday 12th May, we’re back at The Charles Bradlaugh for another monthly comedy night.
Headlining this event is Rachel Fairburn - One half of the All Killa No Filla Podcast. Rachel has appeared on BBC Presents: Stand Up For Live Comedy and Funny Festival Live, part of the BBC’s Festival of Funny. Her TV credit's include Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, Russell Howard Hour Life Lessons and House of Games.
Also on the bill:
Stephen Grant - Stephen Grant is one of the UK’s funniest, hardest working and most respected comedians. Whether entertaining full-size theatres, voicing animations, warming up TV audiences, presenting radio shows or hosting corporate award nights Stephen never fails to pull in the laughs.
Dinesh Nathan - Winning several gong shows, he won South Coast Comedian Of The Year and was a finalist at the Komedia New Act competition and the coveted Leicester Mercury Comedian Of The Year competition. Described as a “mix of high-spirited delivery with a sarcastic, self-deprecating viewpoint”, his club-ready, bulletproof and relentless act was named “one to watch” by Brighton Fringe Review.
Will Duggan - Will Duggan has been performing comedy since 2009 and since then has cemented himself as a dynamic and interesting performer in comedy clubs around the country. He mixes stories and gags with a cheerfully cynical view of the world. Will has provided tour support for Justin Moorhouse, Hal Cruttenden and Gary Delaney. Will has also appeared on the Russell Howard Hour.
We’re ready for another cracking night of live comedy. Are you? 👇
If you are familiar with stand up comedian Michael Legge, then firstly you are in for a treat. If you’re not, but you enjoy funny books, you are equally in for a strawberry style treat.
‘Michael Legge is a stand-up comedian and this collection of his writing from 2008 to 2020 is his way of apologising for inventing online anger and wrecking all our lives.
Stories of romance, success and bravery are not included. Instead of writing about how fun and exciting the life of a comedian is, he decided to tell the truth.’
You can order his book through Go Faster Stripe
Or alternatively, limited signed copies are available through Bandcamp!
During these strange times we all need things to distract ourselves, to pass the time under house arrest. You may well have started decorating rooms, clearing out the garage or getting through a back log of books or TV shows you never thought you’d get the time for…
Live comedy now attempts its evolutionary change, like the underground shrimps that are now blind as sight is no longer useful to them. Is it a case of use it or lose it? As we take advantage of modern technology, we now have virtual comedy events broadcasted on Youtube, Facebook Live etc. It’s certainly a different experience, but one I’d recommend for getting your fix of live comedy and entertainment.
With this post I wanted to highlight some great options for you to enjoy some live comedy events online. Because there is still one thing we all need to do during these times and that’s laugh. (All BOLD text are links to their respective websites).
Stuart Goldsmith’s Infinite Sofa - “
“Make yourself comfy on my iiiiiiiiiiiinfinite sofa! We’ve got musical comedy, celebrity guests, team games, surprise chickens, proper jokes, roving reporters, it’s a massively multiplayer online chat show!
(Look basically I get to be Kermit the frog and I’M LOVING IT!)”
Coming soon, special guests, JAMES ACASTER, SARAH MILLICAN, ROMESH RANGANATHAN, SHAPPI KHORSANDI
Troy Tawke - See Troy Hawke Live on his Facebook page with his live phone in show.
“Low-fi inaugural attempt at a live phone in show will stream live. I’ll suggest themes but really it’s up to you, whatever you want to talk about. Pep talks, theories, coping strategies or just blowing off steam. Full disclosure. I haven’t got a bloody clue what I’m doing.”
Jon Pearson is also hosting a great virtual live comedy show on Youtube - Click here to jump on board to see the next available show.
Scott Bennet is also performing comedy from his shed! Which you can check out on Scott Bennett’s Facebook Page.
We would also highly recommend checking out Jack’s Night In - A New Weekly Comedy Variety Entertainment Show From The Mind and Bedroom of Comedian Jack Gleadow
Featuring Stand-up, Special Guests, Games and Sketches
Episodes released online every Friday at 7pm on Facebook and YouTube.
These are just a few of the cool things comedian’s are doing to keep us entertained. Don’t forget there are some amazing podcasts available as well. I’ve selected a few personal favourites below.
Ben Briggs Podcast - If you’ve seen Ben live and enjoyed his comedy, you’ll love this podcast, hear Ben rant about various topics from the comfort of his own home. It’s what Ben does best.
Insane in the Menbrain “Woke, Feminist, Geezer” (The List) Rich Wilson talks to funny & interesting people about their experiences with men’s mental health.”
The Reality Show Every Monday, comedians and best mates Stephen Bailey and Brennan Reece will sit down with one of the nations biggest reality stars to find out what’s really real!
Jokes Every week Mark Simmons and a guest share jokes they've written that just haven't worked - because they're too long, too stupid, too clever, too groanworthy or just too rubbish.
The list could be so much bigger, there is so much great content online at the moment. So get your laughs in and hopefully we can go back to how comedy should be performed in the near future!
Drop a comment to let us know what you’ve been watching or listening to for your comedy fix!
Stay sane and more importantly stay safe! x