JUICE Comedy
Stafford's premier comedy club
Tag Archives: Comic
Thursday 16th May 2013
Some big events and changes are brewing for JUICE Comedy, dear reader, so sit back as we give you the inside scoop.
First and perhaps foremost, after nearly nine years it looks like our time is up at the pub Joxer Brady’s. Joxers is where it all began for JUICE, many moons ago, and even though we’ve expanded to other venues over the years, the little Irish pub has always remained our spiritual home. It’s also continually played host to our monthly New Act / New Material night. Sadly, the pub is shortly due for a complete change in management, which will bring to a close an important chapter in Stafford’s comedy scene. It’s only through the support of previous managers James Woodhams and Eve Colclough that we got our humble start in the comedy world, and it’s only thanks to outgoing Landlords Sam Swift & Chyrell Standish that the New Act / New Material shows flourished.
It won’t be the end of our monthly grass-roots comedy show, we’ll relocate elsewhere within the town centre and carry on. Meanwhile, June 3rd & July 1st will be our very last shows at Joxer Brady’s (and between you, us and the lamppost, we’ve got at least one very special guest lined up!) so it’d be lovely to see as many of your faces at those shows as possible.
Tuesday night saw the first JUICE Comedy showcase of Edinburgh Preview Shows, which took place at Number 15. We’ve planned a season of 6 Edinburgh Previews across three months, as the whole country gears up for the biggest arts festival in the world! Stafford hasn’t had Edinburgh Previews is nigh-on ten years, so these events were always going to be a little bit tricky as JUICE tries to educate our audience a little bit. These showcases are very different from a regular comedy night. Instead of having a different comedian every ten/fifteen minutes, with plenty of intervals breaking up the show, these nights consist of two comics delivering roughly one-hour shows back-to-back. That can be a big change for an audience to get used to, but a rewarding and enjoyable experience once done.
We also want to profusely thank all our wonderful Twitter Followers who have this event so much love and support, Retweeting and Favouriting posts about it, spreading the word whether they could make it to the show or not. Considering how much (deserved) apathy there is on Facebook when people are invited to yet-another event, it was heart-warming to see so much involvement and action on Twitter!
Our first showcase featured top talent Tony Jameson who was prepping his show ‘Football Manager Ruined My Life’. Tony’s tale features his obsession with the sporting video game and how blinkered and involved he became in it. There was a good mix of football / video game fans in the audience, along with those of us who had limited experience of both. Yet Tony’s jokes and stories managed to not fly over people’s heads. JUICE received some lovely feedback from punters who enjoyed seeing a comedian visibly working on his show before their very eyes, letting the audience behind the curtain as he talked about re-ordering the jokes, and confessing when certain things didn’t work.
The other performer on the bill was Michael J Dolan, a comedian who won plaudits and critical acclaim at last year’s Edinburgh Festival with his previous show. This year’s outing for Dolan is titled ‘Nothing Will Ever Be Alright Again’, which certainly sets the mood for his misanthropic rage and self-hate. Dolan’s persona and delivery are marvelous, and it was joyous to see such bleak subject matter generating deep belly laughs and uncontrollable giggles in the audience.
As ever, we had a beautiful Stafford audience who came out on a rainy Tuesday night to get themselves a bit of arts & culture, and have themselves a big laugh as well. We hope the success of this first showcase will lead to bigger, brighter things on Tuesday June 11th when we’ve got previews from Phil Ellis and Katie Mulgrew (tickets available now)!
Speaking of “tickets available now” don’t forget to book your seats for Friday 31st May when JUICE returns to The Gatehouse Theatre! These show are always our favourite of the year and so much fun is had both on and off stage. The MET Studio at the Gatehouse is a brilliant space for stand-up comedy and the comedians we’ve had on have done nothing but rave about what a nice gig it is and what a lovely audience we get. This show will feature not just the excellent Danny Deegan and Fern Brady (amongst others), but we’ll also have Mr. Paul Savage back on-board as our Resident MC & Compere!
JUICE Chat with Tony Jameson
Tony Jameson is one of the most sought-after comics & MC’s on the circuit. His engaging style and fabulous hair have made him a mainstay at the major comedy clubs. He looks forlorn & enigmatic in that picture above, but in reality he’s a very silly chap.
JUICE: How did you get your start in comedy?
“I guess I started comedy the same way a lot of people do, by going to an open mic as a punter for 6 weeks in a row and thinking ‘my god, this is terrible, I’m sure I could do better’. I spoke to the organiser, and a few weeks later I was booked in. I wrote my set about 2 hours before the gig, and that was that.”
JUICE: What attracted you to performing stand-up?
“I’ve always wanted to do stand up, even from an early age, but I never knew how to get into it. I also think it was better I started when I did (I was 28) as I probably thought I had some life experience and something to say. I think I’ve disproved that with my show title.”
JUICE: Your Edinburgh show is called ‘Football Manager Ruined My Life’. How bad did it get?
“The show is basically a retrospective look back over the past 20 years as I realised I’d played every version. Essentially I’ve grown up with this video game, so during good times and bad, the one constant in my life has been Football Manager. There have been some stupid moments which get covered in the show.”
JUICE: What can we expect from the show?
“Expect some silly stories, references to players you may / may not remember, and most of all, its also accessible to people who haven’t played the game. I was very conscious when I started writing the show that I didn’t want to alienate people who didn’t know about the game.”
JUICE: Who are you looking forward to seeing at the Festival this year? Who should we be looking out for?
“My comedy wife, Katie Mulgrew is taking her debut show up to The Fringe this year, so I’ll be very keen to see that. Also, Romesh Ranganathan and Sean McLoughlin are doing their first hours, both of whom are fantastic acts.”
JUICE: Stand-Up Comedy – art or science?
“Totally art.”
You can see Tony’s brand new show “How Football Manager Ruined My Life” in Stafford TONIGHT at Number 15! E-mail us for tickets!
Stand Up If You Dare
Helene Sandy Writes For JUICE
About Her First Foray Into Stand-Up
So you can make your friends laugh, but does it make you a stand up? Well to be blunt, no. there is a world of difference between being able to make your drunk friends laugh at a story they know some of the back ground to and who have the patience to listen as you ramble your way to the funny bit and the ability to make a room full of strangers laugh.
This is what I’ve learnt as I have taken my first steps into to the world of stand up.
I did my first set in Sydney in a dirty little pub in 2007. I don’t remember much about it other then I didn’t die on stage and people laughed and not just out of nervous politeness.
What will always stick with me from that night was the cocky little shit who had bragged that he didn’t need to write or rehearse because he was naturally funny and stuff would just come to him on stage. What I witnessed when he was on stage was a slow painful death, and an audience who had been totally alienated from the start. The worst thing was this guy didn’t even give it up as a bad job and finish up. For 15 painfully slow minutes he continued to try and eek one laugh out of an audience who wanted nothing more from him but silence and maybe a public beating.
I didn’t get back on stage till November last year. A friend told me about a stand up course that was being run in Stoke. The aim was to do 6 weeks of this course and learn all about stand up, finishing with a gig at a working mens club in Kidsgrove.
I applied and was offered a place. I was excited and looking forward to meeting like minded people who wanted to learn about being funny and there being a gig at the end of it.
What I met were 3 other women (and I’m please to say not a period/I hate men joke between us) and 9 government-hating, “we are so radical and political” people who met on a roundabout they were trying to save in Leek. They did not succeed in saving said roundabout.
Every week we went though writing, improvisation, working on stage presence, holding and using the mic, how to engage with the audience, how to get your set together. Every week members of this group would disrupt the class claiming that ‘everything would be alright on the night’ and “well we’re naturally funny”. I couldn’t believe the arrogance of this group of people.
The night of the show came round really very quickly. The comic who was running the course had managed to sort out the running order. He told us that there was no way he could have anyone follow one person so they would be going on last, not the best way to end a show, but no one was experienced enough to win the audience back after this person had rambled though 12 minutes of ill thought-out material that didn’t flow, make any sense or was FUNNY.
I’m really proud of what I managed to do that night. I crafted a good 7 minutes of material that I look back on and don’t cringe when I watch it.
I remember being introduced, taking the mic and all the nerves that I felt throughout the night drain away. I had to slow myself down on several occasions but the laughter that came from the 300 people that were in the room that night at my first joke was better then anything I have ever experience before. We were warned by the comic doing the course that you will forever be chasing that first gig buzz.
Was it alright on the night for the roundabout people? Well I think we all know the answer to this one. No, it wasn’t. For this simple reason they did not have any material, they talked in a way that didn’t engage their audience and they went on far too long.
Then came JUICE. I love JUICE Comedy. I’ve been to big arena tours where the comic has had to be on a big screen. Great, that cost me £35 quid, I could have waited for the DVD. Stand up needs to be in a small space where you can see your audience and they can see you with out the need for big screens
Sitting in the audience that night at JUICE the nervous feelings came back again and I questioned why I did this to myself. It became clear when I got that first laugh why I did it. This was a much better set then Kidsgrove but had worked on it. I looked at what was funny, what doesn’t work, can I get to this punchline quicker, is there another way to make this bit funny.
When I came off the stage friends were coming over to congratulate me, this is always nice. What was nicer was people I didn’t know coming over and telling me that they had enjoyed it. What was even nicer was the comics from that night coming over and telling me that they had enjoyed my set.
So gig number four, Glee Club Birmingham.
I had managed to get through to Stand Up If You Dare for Comic Relief. The week before the show we got to meet Jasper Carrott, do a bit of our set and get feedback from him. Randomly the 2 people that I had done the Kidsgove show with had also got through so it was nice having people backstage that I new and also sharing a lift. This meant we were also able to have a bitch about the other comics on the way home.
13 people performed that night. Before going on stage we had a bit of a pep talk from Jasper. It was mainly go out and enjoy yourself. Thankfully I had received a text from Mr Halden telling me that the audience was there to listen to me, I’m not there to fill time and that no comic I admired was ever afraid of silence. Jasper ended up nicking that last bit for his pep talk.
There were some amazingly funny people there that night. There were some average people there who had done mostly original material and nicked one or two jokes famous stand ups. Then there were the people who weren’t funny, they were just using the night to express their hatred of the immigrants and the gays in the thinly disguised joke, or the people who just weren’t funny. Shouting that, “Jasper liked this so you should” doesn’t tend to get the audience on side.
I wasn’t overly happy with my set. I had forgotten an important segue point. I was told that I covered it up well, but I didn’t feel that the set had gone as well as it had done at JUICE. Also for the first time I had been given a time limit. We were told that it was very simple and that the lights that were above our head would go red when we got to 5 minutes and would then flash when you got to 6 minutes. This is a really fool proof system. You just need to make sure that you are looking at the right set of lights and not the set of lights that are always on red.
So from these first gigs the main thing I have learnt is that it’s not the length it’s the quality (something I say to the boys all the time). Don’t be precious about your material. If it doesn’t work find a way to make it work, if that doesn’t work get rid of it.
The funniest bit of material you will ever think of will come to you at 4am. ALWAYS keep paper and pens by your bed, you will not remember it in the morning.
Strip #1
Tagged Cartoon, Comedy, Comic, Comic Book, Comic Strip, Funny, Humor, Humour, JUICE Comedy
Friday 28th December 2012
It was our final job of the year, so of course everything had to go wrong. JUICE had been commissioned by a local Social Club in the heart of Stafford to book comedians and help arrange a comedy night for them. The Social Club had never had any comedy on before and were cautious about how it should be run, but the event proved to be so popular with their members that as soon as the show was announced, they sold-out before tickets could even be printed up.
One of the mandates was that this comedy show had to be all “clean” comedy. No swearing, no “blue” or “dark” material. This immediately narrows the talent pool of good comedians down, but JUICE had arranged an excellent line-up with Paul Savage as the MC, followed by the excellent talents of Craig Deeley, Rich Wall and Al Rudge. All brilliant comedians who have stormed our major shows in the past, and are deft enough to be able to work “clean”.
As the date approached, Rich Wall got in touch to say that he had unfortunately double-booked himself and asked if we could find a replacement for his spot. This is trickier than it sounds because JUICE needed to walk the tight-rope between finding a clean comedian good enough to fill Rich’s shoes on the bill, yet also one that the budget could afford. There’s a wealth of excellent clean comic Headliners on the circuit, but the lion’s share of the budget was also tied up in our very own Headline act. However, Rich Wall and Paul Savage both made recommendations to have Will Setchel take Rich’s place on the bill. Phew! Wipe your brow, everything’s going to be okay.
Then on the afternoon of the gig, after finishing up a very positive meeting with Screwfix about another private function for them in 2013, JUICE sent the address of the venue to the acts for them to plan their journeys. Following this we received a panicked phone-call from Craig Deeley. Due to a mis-communication, Craig didn’t have the gig planned out in his diary! He had plum-forgotten all about it! There was lots of embarassment on both sides as we struggled to work out how this had happened. JUICE wants to go on record now as saying that Craig Deeley is one of the nicest and most genuine comedians on the circuit, and it’s always a pleasure to work with him. Craig had just finished up a run at The Crescent Theatre in Birmingham as part of their annual Wassail shows (which he had also Directed), and just so happened to be free that very evening. Phew #2! Wipe that brow again, two narrow escapes, nothing else could possibly go wrong!
Then at 8pm, just as the show was about to start, we received a call from our Headline Act the wondery Al Rudge. With great regret Al informed us that his car had completely broken down on the Motorway, he was awaiting the AA to tow him home and would not be able to fulfil his spot. Panic! In all our years producing comedy shows, this had never happened to JUICE before! The show had begun, already with one change to the advertised bill, and now we were missing a show-closing Headliner! What followed was a series of desperate phone-calls to every comic within driving distance. Virtually no one was answering our calls (was it something we did?!) and so JUICE left begging, pleading answerphone messages for Andy Kind, James Cook, Andy White, Barbara Nice and a plethora of other great comics. Being the Thursday before Christmas, just about every comedian already had a gig, and by the time they finished up and drove to Stafford, it would be far too late.
Time ticked by as the organisers kept asking if we’d found a replacement. The JUICE Phone (which is a glowing red Bakelite) remained silent for over an hour. It was 9:20pm and the last comedian in the building was wrapping up their set. It wasn’t looking good. We’d resigned ourselves to the unhappy fact that, without a Headline Act, we’d have to end the show earlier and the Social Club would probably have to refund some money to it’s members. The situation was SO desperate that Paul Savage even suggest calling up Neil Reading and asking him to Headline the show. We all had a much needed laugh at that concept, and then went back to worrying.
Then, finally, the call was answered by Mr. Lovdev Baparga! Lovdev was the very first comedian (besides Rob & Neil titting about) to take the stage at JUICE many years ago. We’ve not had the opportunity to work with Lovdev in recent years, so it’s a testament to his generous spirit that he finished his work in Birmingham and traveled to Stafford at a moment’s notice to help us out of a jam.
Being a private show for another organiser, we won’t comment much or review the event, suffice to say that every act had the audience in stitches and negotiated the always-tricky-waters of private Social Clubs (“that’s YOU that is, Janet!”), and we’ve been commissioned to book another show for them in 2013.
That brings to a close our long-account of the ups and downs of promoting, it’s not for the weak of heart.
Boxing Day saw the publishing of our very first article, right here on our WordPress site. Up until now the JUICE writings have consisted entirely of interviews and backstage stuff, but we’re now branching out into more creative areas with some unique comedic voices. Rob Batchelor delivered his Open Letter To Rita Ora which quickly became a well-read smash-hit for JUICE! It led to a big surge in JUICE Subcribers on WordPress, and we can’t wait to see more from Mr. Batchelor in the future. If you’d like to see more from Rob B. he also writes for Beardrock and Moviefarm so check him out.
Before we go, a quick announcement that JUICE will be kicking off 2013 on New Year’s Day with the debut of JUICE Comix! Our very own comic strip written by Rob Halden and drawn by fab local artist Jade Thompson! Best believe we’ll be spamming that strip all over the internet, so make sure you look out for it!
JUICE Chat with Rich Wall
“It felt like being asked to play football at Wembley, whilst eating an ice-cream, whilst waking up from a nap.”
JUICE: How would you describe your type of comedy/performance?
Rich: Someone recently described me being like “having an annoying younger sibling grin at you because they think they’ve done something witty and clever”. That’s not what I was attempting, but I’ll take it.
At first I waned to do comedy that changed what people thought about important things. Judging by the material I came out with, I obviously thought that the Chuckle Brothers and things that happened on the bus were immensely important.
JUICE: How did you get started in stand-up and why? What was your first gig like?
Rich: I started by sitting in audiences, hanging on the every word of comics, either thinking “this person is amazing, I could never possibly be that funny and inspiring”, or “this person is a tragic mental, if they can get paid for comedy, so can I”. Eventually one of my friends booked me into a gig, and I have since gone some way towards emulating both of the above examples.
JUICE: What do you take with you to a gig? What’s in your gig-bag?
Rich: Hair product. And to think my grandfather mined coal from the Earth.
JUICE: If you had to estimate, roughly how many miles do you think you’ve done over the years?
Rich: I wouldn’t want to estimate. Mostly because I would feel compelled to then sit with a calculator, several old diaries and a pen, and refine my estimate, until well past the time when it stopped being an understandable curiosity. But it’s enough to warrant owning shares in motorway pasties.
JUICE: What’s been your most memorable gig to date, for either good or bad reasons?
Rich: There are a few. I compéred XS Malarkey in Manchester for the first time over the summer, which is a very special gig indeed. It felt like being asked to play football at Wembley, whilst eating an ice-cream, whilst waking up from a nap. Partly in that I was very surprised to find it happening.
My worst gig ever was at Sheffield Hallam Uni. 150 drunken students blathered away, ignoring the sad acoustic guitar player that was on before me. Then the MC walked on, was roundly booed by the crowd, and then said: “Our next act is a comedian, apparently…” (turns and hands mic to me) “Here you go, Rich”. Two minutes of angry swearing followed. They didn’t even listen.
JUICE: Where’s your favourite place to perform?
Rich: Stockport. It’s a small town, in the shadow of a bigger town, where everyone in the audience seems to like rock music and cider. I feel very much at home (I am from Wolverhampton).
JUICE: Which comedians have influenced you over the years? Who are your comedy heroes?
Rich: When I turned 19 someone lent me a Bill Hicks DVD, and I got a bit obsessive about it for a while. I must have been insufferable to be around.
There’s a couple of Canadian guys called Glenn Wool and Craig Campbell who make me want to walk around pretending in my own head that I am also Canadian. They are that heroically funny.
JUICE: Who are your favourite acts on the comedy circuit right now?
Rich: Johnny “Showaddy-Waddy” Sorrow. He’s not only a lovely man, his act is impossible to properly describe to anyone who hasn’t seen him. He is like Vietnam. You weren’t there, man. You weren’t there. I also, I love what Martin “BigPig” Mor does. When I grow up, I want to be like him.
You can see Rich Wall as the MC for Cocktails & Comedy Part IV on Friday 23rd November. Visit his website for more fun-fact about Rich!
T-shirts & Expansions
Big thanks to CODENAME_U81K for our sexy new logo! Head on over to The Goosefactory for art, designs and t-shirts from this awesome Stafford artist!
Speaking of t-shirts, we’re working hard to get some JUICE shirts available to buy before Cocktails & Comedy Part IV in a couple of weeks. The shirts themselves have all been designed by CODENAME_U81K and a number of limited editions are currently worn by JUICE staff & associates. Quite a few of you JUICERS out there have expressed an interest in buying a shirt, and it’d be great to be able to see them on people around Stafford and at the gigs. We’re looking at keeping the costs down so we can sell them to you as cheap as possible. Why? Because we’re not in the selling-clothes business, we’re in the Badass Comedy business, and we’d LOVE to see our audiences wearing our shirts! Get in touch and let us know if you want one of the first shirts to roll off the presses!
Tickets are on sale NOW for Cocktails & Comedy Part IV, priced at £5they’re available from the venue itself, Number 15 on Greengate Street, or you can contact Rob Halden and get them from him. In addition to having Freddie Farrell, Freddie Quinn and Jollyboart on a show hosted by Rich Wall, we can now exclusively reveal that Tom Allsopp has been added to the bill! Tom is an excellent comedian who recently Headlined our show at The Gatehouse Theatre. It all takes place on Friday 23rd November and it’s going to be a fantastic show!
Monday night sees our monthly New Act / New Material Show return to Joxer Brady’s! This month we’ve got a number of comedians we’ve been dying to get on the show for a while now, including Aaron Twitchen and Jack Kirwan. We’re also going to be graced with new material by JUICE Breakout Act Of 2011 Kiri Pritchard-McLean and one of the Founders of JUICE, Rob Halden. We’re really proud of how long we’ve been running this show and supporting comedians who are either starting out in their careers or looking for a performance space to test out new material. It’s always an excellent night out and the show is absolutely FREE to all who want to come.
Earlier in the week JUICE took a trip to the local towns of Cannock & Hednesford, on the search for a venue with which we can expand to. As he’s based in the area, Tom Allsopp acted as our guide and showed us around. The idea at this time is to set up a similar New Act / New Material Show to run concurrently with our one in Stafford. The ideal set-up would be to run the show on the same night as the Stafford show, First Monday Of The Month. That way we can offer comedians two gigs in front of two audiences, on the same night, just 15 minutes apart. This can make all the different to comics who are travelling from all over the country to get some stage time. Stay tuned to the J-Blog for further updates on this!
JUICE Chat with James Cook
“when my first joke got a big laugh the sheer force of it rocked me backwards”
James Cook started stand-up comedy a number of years ago, but left the circuit for seven years to become an NTL Award-Winning commercial radio presenter. Then James decided he’d had enough of completely conquering all of radio, so has recently returned to the grind of stand-up, where he performs for major comedy clubs such as Highlight, The Glee Club, Off The Curb and many more. JUICE got the chance to probe the very busy man with a few questions.
JUICE: How would you describe your type of comedy?
James: A man behind a microphone communicating funny ideas in an entertaining way to an audience. If you like laughing at things, then you’ll probably like the things that I do.
JUICE: How did you get started in stand-up and why? What was your first gig like?
James: When I was a student in London I saw an advert in the Union for people to take part in a cable TV show – you needed 3 minutes of material and they’d pay you £25 – which to a student in London in the mid 90s was the most money I could possibly conceive of. I cobbled together 2 minutes 45 seconds of filth, went along and performed in front of a cameraman and about 6 people. It was great.
JUICE: What do you take with you to a show? What’s in your gig-bag?
James: Note book and pen (which I take with me everywhere). Phone wallet keys. Bit boring really. Let’s make something up to make it sound more exotic – I also take my lucky pineapple and a shotgun (just in case).
JUICE: Roughly how many miles do you think you’ve done on the circuit over the years?
James: Probably 100,000 or more.
JUICE: What’s been your most memorable gig to date, for either good or bad reasons?
James: First time doing The Comedy Store London, when my first joke got a big laugh the sheer force of it rocked me backwards.
JUICE: Where’s your favourite place to perform?
James: At comedy clubs. I’ve tried airport check-in queues, they don’t like it so much. Hot damn I’m facetious.
JUICE: Which comedians have influenced you over the years?
James: I’ll try and do this in chronological order….
Monty Python, Lenny Henry, Little and Large, Paul Squires, Phil Cool, Jasper Carrot, Andrew O’Connor, Cannon and Ball, Trevor and Simon, Newman and Baddiel, Punt and Dennis, Mark Thomas, Eddie Izzard, Harry Enfield, Jack Dee, Bill Hicks, Lee and Herring, Armando Ianucci, Chris Morris, Steve Coogan, Harry Hill, Paul Merton, David Letterman, Sean Lock, Rich Hall, Louis CK, Gavin Webster, Chris Stokes.
JUICE: Who are your comedy heroes?
James: Python.
JUICE: Who are your favourite acts on the comedy circuit right now?
James: Gavin Webster and Chris Stokes I will always watch.
JUICE: Who’s the best in the world, Louis CK or Daniel Kitson?
James: You assume that there is such a thing, and that it is one of those two.
JUICE: Yes, we do. If we didn’t assume that there’s a best in the world and that it’s either Daniel Kitson or Louis CK, then it’s unlikely we would have written a question based entirely around that subject. Just go with it or say “neither”.
James: I prefer Louis CK, but I still really really like Kitson.
JUICE: If you weren’t a comic what would you be doing?
James: Crying and regretting not starting comedy.
For more in-depth insights into James, Follow him on Twitter!
Clean Comedy & Announcements
Exciting announcements this week in the J-Blog! The first refreshing glass of JUICE news is that the November New Act / New Material Show at Joxer Brady’s will be hosted by none other than Tom Allsopp! Tom MC’ing a comedy show for the very first time, and whilst he’s not done it before we think he’ll take to it like a duck-to-water.
JUICE brand expanding to Cannock? Stay tuned to the J-Blog for more details on that, dear reader!
JUICE was backstage at the Speakeasy Comedy show held up at Stafford Uni on Wednesday night. It’s always a fun show with some top comics and an entry cost of absolutely nothing!On the bill were two acts who’ll be performing at Cocktails & Comedy Part IV. The flatcap-wearing Freddie Farrell is a warm, cheeky personality from Birmingham who’s been on the circuit for a couple of years now, and also Freddie Quinn, who’s act is a funny mix of embarrassing personal stories with some on-the-knuckle dark material thrown in for good measure. They’ll be joined by pirate-musical-sketch troupe Jollyboat. Just read that sentence again, dear reader. Pirate-Musical-Sketch Troupe! You absolutely cannot miss these boys! Part IV takes place on Friday 23rd November at Number 15. Check out the video that JUICE Tube took backstage at the Speakeasy gig.
It seems like more and more Stafford businesses are after a slice of JUICE! One of the hardest gigs to put together is when people want the show to be completely “clean”. Now this doesn’t just mean “no swearing” it means no adult subjects. Now that’s a very restrictive remit to fill, not least because not all comedians can work what is considered “clean”. In fact, the list is much, much smaller. But luckily for Stafford, JUICE knows some incredibly talented comedians like Al Rudge, Craig Deeley, Paul Savage and Rich Wall who are all fantastic at working clean.
We’re hoping to be able to bring the one-man show by Paul Savage called ‘A Cheerful Shambles’ to Stafford before the end of 2012. Paul has been working hard on putting his first show together after being on the circuit for close to six years, and it made its debut at the Birmingham Comedy Festival. We’ll keep you posted on this.
Don’t forget it’s our legendary New Act / New Material Show on Monday 5th November down at Joxer Brady’s.
JUICE Comedy 