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…
You Win Some You Lose Some
Unfortunately March started with a cancellation. We were due to have another show with the amazing guys behind WiFi Wars. Due to low sales, we couldn’t go ahead with the show, it wouldn’t be viable for the acts, for us or the venue. We absolutely love these shows, we’ve been booking them for nearly 2 years and we’ve had some really great crowds. What we’ve found though with this show in particular, is it’s quite challenging to convince those that aren’t familiar to take a chance on it. Those we’ve managed to rope in before have all said how much fun they’ve had, I feel this type of show relies heavily on word of mouth.
WiFi Wars are booked in for June, currently at £5.50 a ticket on early bird prices! If you’re reading this and have no idea what WiFi Wars is. Please have a read of the show description on our website, it’s great for all ages, (recommended for ages 6+). Bring the family, bring your friends and let’s keep this show coming back to Northampton. Plus if you know any schools, youth groups etc. Let us know! We need to find all the different ways to promote and reach those who are going to love these events.
A Weekender Announcement
So the first act we managed to confirm in March... Her show ‘The Girl Before The Girl You Marry’ was nominated for Best Live Show at the National Comedy Awards 2023 and Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe. This act has appeared on The Jonathan Ross Show, The One Show, Pointless Celebrities, The Stand Up Sketch Show, Alma’s Not Normal, Hypothetical, Guessable, Alan Davies As Yet Untitled, The Emily Atack Show and more… Making her Comedy Crate debut it’s the incredible Amy Gledhill. 11 IN, 14 TO GO…
Trois
First Thursday of the month, that means it’s back to The Duke in Stanwick and Picturedrome Northampton. This time however the third gig was at Newnham Village Hall in Daventry and run by a local comic and friend of the Crate Pete Teckman.
Over at the Duke of Wellington where I was posted, we had Terry Alderton opening the show and then he was closing the Picturedrome. For those that are aware of Terry’s act, know it’s absolutely wild. I’ve never seen Terry open a show before, but with so much energy and unpredictability to kick off a night, it really set the tone. Ross McGrane was hosting with Fiona Ridegwell in the middle and Otiz Cannelloni headlining, it was a lot of fun and it was a very positive response from those in attendance.
I asked Mike for something I could add to the blog about the Drome gig… he said “it was great”. So that’s your lot.
Pictured below - Terry Alderton
(Just to note, Terry Alderton and Friends will be coming to The Charles Bradlaugh in June, so make sure you grab tickets for that.)
Thrapston
Another excellent turn out for the Thrapston Plaza this month. The line up included Thrapston’s own Ross Smith, who we believe is an extremely under rated MC. We also had Esther Manito, Gerry K and Mike Gunn on the bill. Didn’t feel like a Saturday night crowd either, just a room full of really nice people. Thank you Thrapston!
Pictured below - Ross Smith & Mike Gunn. Ross had just introduced Mike on stage and it looks as though Mike has already made one person laugh, what did he say? We’ll never know…
Flashback - “It’s Not All Glamour”
Sometime in 2017, I can’t remember the specific date, but we’d only been booking comedy gigs for a few months. But through a referral we’d received a message about booking a few acts for a party on Bridge Street. For those unfamiliar with Northampton Town Centre, it’s a street best known for its night life, I’ll keep it diplomatic. It was held in a restaurant, at a reasonable hour, it didn’t sound too bad.
We’d booked a couple of acts we knew quite well at the time and felt could handle a potentially weird room. Mike couldn’t make it that evening, so I went down nice and early to check on the set up. As I’ve said, we were still pretty fresh faced as promoters and at the time we didn’t have any kit, so when it was booked in we confirmed they would provide a PA and microphone. What we got was a tiny speaker in the corner of the restaurant with a wireless mic, the sound quality was pretty poor. We also had no stage and the layout was the same as you’d expect to see…in a restaurant. I queried where they were expecting the acts to perform from, and their response… “well we thought they could wander around the room.” The red flags were starting to appear, and they didn’t stop there.
I messaged the acts as I wanted to give them a heads up on the potential shit show they were about to walk in to. These guys were so nice though, they said not to worry and we’ll make the best of the situation. Then the guests started to appear. I’d say around 30 men, yes all men, some looked like your stereotypical gym goers that would hulk smash at the sign of an alcohol free bar. Fortunately for them it wasn’t, unfortunately for us it also turned out to be a stag do…
You’ve already got a pretty good picture in your mind of what this gig might have looked like. And you’re probably right. It was awful. I’ve blocked a fair amount of it out, but there was a point where the guys clearly wanted the gig to be about them, and the moment it was they wished it weren’t. The night came to a slightly abrupt close, after tensions were mounting in the room and it started to get a little cagey. We were then confronted by one of the fathers of the group, who seemed pretty irate about the abuse one of the guys took, for talking through most of the gig… Things got a bit heated but we managed to diffuse the situation enough to basically bee line for the exit. Over the years I’ve heard so many horror stories about awful corporate events, rowdy audiences, a gig in a child’s play area. Mike’s favourite line is “It’s not all glamour" and there’s good reason for it.
For those that don’t know
There’s some really cool stuff going on at Delapre Abbey this year, but specifically in May there’s a weekend event that requires a nice big outdoor stage, the full works. We were approached to see whether we wanted to use the set up for a comedy event on the Friday night. Cut a long story short, we’re teaming up with Paul Revill of Castle Comedy (Because we love a collab), and we’re putting on a big outdoor show. A triple headliner as well, Gary Delaney, Zoe Lyons and Nathan Caton. What. A. Bill. May 17th, tickets on sale now.
WEEKENDER
Another brilliant act joining us for the Weekender, someone we’re huge fans of and we know will be working on another hilarious hour of material. Brennan Reece, 12 IN, 13 TO GO…
Bradlaugh
March at the Bradlaugh we were joined by the brilliant Jen Brister, Don Biswas, Mark Bittlestone and Will Duggan. This one sold out weeks in advance, and it was a cracker. Really appreciate Will Duggan coming up from Brighton and bringing Jen with him, 3 and half hour drive to entertain the crowd in Northampton. Also shout out to John, Ammabel, Kempton, Michael, Sarah and the young girl who will hopefully get her job in Fashion as I can’t imagine a career in the secret service will now be available. The crowd interactions were incredible and everyone was such a good sport.
Pictured below: Jen Brister
WEEKENDER
Described by the Guardian as gloriously down-to-earth, straight talking and extremely funny comic. Angela Barnes will be joining us on Saturday 20th July. 13 IN, 12 TO GO…
The Rob Auton Show
Another tour show at the Bradlaugh, off the back of a great preview on our Weekender in 2023. Rob Auton returned with his fully fleshed out show and it was a real delight. We had roped in the sound wizard Ollie to provide some support on the various sound queues in the show and it was a good job we did. I was tasked with one queue, changing the lighting to blue at a certain point of the show. When I asked Rob the point in which to change it, I had to listen out for a part of the show to do with circumcision and the tooth fairy… I wasn’t going to forget that one in a hurry.
Pictured below: Rob Auton. Or Alan Wake. Or John Wick. Or the ‘Crab Cake King’.
Weekender!
It’s been ages since we’ve worked with this act and I’m not sure why as he’s absolutely brilliant. As seen on Live at the Apollo, Cunk on Earth, Death to 2022, Friday Night Live and more… it’s Michael Odewale! 14 IN, 11 TO GO!
Saints Coffee
Back to Saints Coffee for all new acts and all new material. This month we pushed the boat out a little and booked 7 acts instead of 6, giving the audience another 10 mins for the same price. WILD!
We were treated straight off the bat with some beasteality material from Northamptons own Ben Briggs. Followed by the guy who will one day claim a place on his parents wall of family photos, Rahul Somia. Ending the first section we had the energetic Scott Oswald who had great fun playing ping pong with the audience, using his own head. Kicking off the second section was Sallyann Fellowes who made a really positive impression on the audience. Then it was James Mileham’s turn to run out some new jokes. In the final section we had Tawny Owl who really threw the audience a swerve ball when he started a rap about cheese. Ending the show was Doug Carter who went on a tangent about stretchy ‘nads’. All hosted by Ian Hayes that appeared to be having great fun playing around with the audience, quickly pointing out a guy that looked like César Azpilicueta on the second row.
These nights are such good fun, really intimate comedy nights that rely heavily on the acts and the audience working as a team.
Weekender!
As seen all over BT Spor… sorry now TNT Sports… Ranked amongst the top ten stand-ups in Britain by The Independent. As seen on Mock the Week, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and more… the seriously funny Ian Stone! 15 IN, 10 TO GO….
Laura Smyth
We’re big fans of Laura, a real natural on stage with hilarious observations and anecdotes. When we found out that Laura was going on tour we thought we’d reach out to see whether we could help by providing any additional stage time before the tour kicks off. So that’s what we did and we had a really nice supportive audience on the Thursday night before the bank holiday weekend. Laura is already smashing the tour, selling out shows all over the country. We’ve been saying this for a while and it’s becoming even more apparent, Laura is going to be a big star in comedy!
Pictured below: Laura Smyth
WEEKENDER - THREE IN ONE, WHY NOT!
They have appeared on “The Russell Howard Hour” and supported Russell on tour. They have also supported Rhod Gilbert, Rob Brydon, America’s Brian Regan and Michelle Wolfe on their only London shows and Michael McIntyre on an entire arena tour including Wembley and the O2. Andrew Bird is in!
Leicester Mercury Comedian of The Year 2020 and winner of the first ever Channel 4 Sean Lock Comedy award… Eric Rushton is coming to town!
The roadman, the guy all over your TV, one of our favourite acts returns to the weekender. The amazing Darren Harriott - Sunday 21st July.
That’s 18 acts IN, and 7 TO GO….
That’s A Wrap (almost)
Thanks for making it this far down. Do join us next month where I’ll be talking about our big theatre show. (Which if you haven’t got tickets for yet, you absolutely should).
Also I forgot to share this photo I took in January. When I first got the camera I thought I’d take it round to my Mums and use her dog as my subject. As I snapped away randomly throughout the afternoon whilst he looked back at me with such bewilderment, I happened to stumble on one of his least favourite days, shower time! What came out was one of the funniest pictures I’ve seen, let alone taken. Brace yourself…
This one is a little nicer. Poor dog!
