TV Stars

Tonight, as part of BBC 3’s oddly named “Feed My Funny” series, two JUICE Comedy favourites will be airing pilot episodes for their very own TV shows. Both of these brilliant comedians have performed live at our monthly Comedy Club at The Market Vaults and other shows that we’ve produced in-and-around Stafford.

Both these TV pilots premier tonight at 11pm on the BBC iPlayer, but will then be available on-demand at a time and location of your choosing.

Radges

Set in a pupil-referral unit in Scotland, Radges is about a group of teen outcasts trying to survive a small-town. The cast includes Sarah Hadland, whose comedy credentials include everything from Miranda to Green Wing, That Mitchell & Webb Look to Horrible Histories.

The pilot has been written by JUICE Favourite Fern Brady, and is based on her own experiences in a similar pupil-referral unit. Fern first performed for JUICE many years ago at our Comedy Club in the back of a pub, and we were then lucky enough to get Fern on-stage for our big show at The Gatehouse Theatre.

If Fern’s stand-up is anything to go by,  expect Radges to be smart, sharp, original and ever-so-slightly bleak. Here’s a clip.

Funz & Gamez

A bizarre entertainment game show that’s almost definitely for kids! Hosted by Phil Ellis, who’s girlfriend has left him, taken the house and sent him spiralling towards a full-on breakdown. Phil is joined Jim The Elf (on loan from the North Pole), Bonzo The Dog and the very unsavoury Uncle Mick.

Phil Ellis had one of his very first gigs for JUICE at our monthly comedy club and was an instant hit with our audience. One of his memorable performances saw him do the entire gig in a Dominos Pizza uniform from his ‘other job’. We were also lucky enough to have Phil Headline one of our very first professional comedy shows at the old Reynold’s Cellar Bar.

Other performers in Funz & Gamez also include the talented & hilarious Will Duggan & James Meehan, both of whom have gigged numerous times for JUICE in Stafford.

You can expect a unique, creative, anarchic and bonkers comedy show. Here’s a clip.

Both these shows premier at 11pm tonight on the BBC iPlayer, and will be available on-demand after that.

Wednesday 25th September 2013

Welcome, dear reader, to the first J-blog in quite a while. But we haven’t been resting on our laurels all this time, we’ve been hard at work putting together some really exciting shows for Stafford!

JUICE has recently taken over the comedy nights at Staffordshire University, and Monday night saw our debut show at the Legends venue for Fresher’s Week. To kick things off we’d put together a stellar line-up of comedians, a really first-rate bill.  Headlining this show we had star of Mock The Week and Dave’s One Night Stand, Mr.Gary Delaney!

Gary gave Stafford a very special 45 minute set which included a Sneak Preview of the brand new material he was due to record on Tuesday for Mock The Week!  This was a rare treat for any audience, and we were really excited that Gary wanted to work with us and Stafford Student Union.

We didn’t have just ONE TV star on the bill, we also had the talented Fern Brady as well! Fern is a fast-rising star in the comedy world, and will be appearing on Comedy Central’s Alternative Comedy Experience later in the year.

Paul Savage returned as our resident MC and Compere, continuing the relationship he’s built up with the student audience over the last few years. Also on the bill was the energetic self-help enthusiast Robin Parmiter. Robin previously impressed JUICE at our New Act / New Material Show, and it was great seeing him in front of a large audience.

Although this show was open to the public and promoted to non-students, it’s notoriously hard to get the people of Stafford to come up to the campus. The show was a real bargain, just £5 to see a TV-level Headliner. But alas, the people of Stafford did not make the journey. But not to worry, dear reader, 140 students packed-out the Legends venue until it was standing-room only!

We’ve also been putting together our next show at the newly refurbished MET Studio! On November 1st JUICE returns to The Gatehouse Theatre with a line-up of brilliant comedians. Not only will we have the simply marvelous sketch-troupe Gein’s Family Giftshop, but we’re also having the brilliantly misanthropic Michael J Dolan! Both these acts have just finished up exciting runs at the Edinburgh Festival. Tickets are already available from The Box Office.

Thursday 6th June 2013

Well, Dear Reader, we’ve been extremely busy these last few weeks, with a big show at the Gatehouse Theatre, our penultimate grassroots comedy night at Joxer Brady’s and preparation for next Tuesday’s Edinburgh Previews! This edition of the J-blog will take you behind-the-curtain!

Last Friday night we returned to The MET Studio with a really brilliant line-up of comedians. We love these shows, we get to gather our favourite comedians together and share them with the rest of Stafford. It’s a genuine joy to put these excellent comedians on in a brilliant room like The MET, in front of a lovely audience who are enthusiastic about stand-up comedy.

Opening the show was Katie Mulgrew, a talented and engaging storyteller who we’ve been trying to book for years! Katie performed a number of times at our New Act / New Material Night in Joxer Brady’s, and even took part in our ill-fated, grimey gigs at The Bird In Hand. Since then we’ve had Katie on the books to perform at a number of gigs, but fate and ill-health over the years conspired against us, and it never came to be. So this time, when Katie came down with the flu mid-week we were convinced it was the universe conspiring against us! But Katie fought on like a trooper and performed for us, snot-and-all. She was the perfect act to bring the audience together, warm them all up and kick the show off with aplomb.

Also on the bill was new comic by the name of Graham Milton. Graham is just getting his start in stand-up, but we’ve been really impressed by his smart and funny material. When he arrived at the theatre, Graham confessed that he’d died at a pub-gig the previous night and was very nervous. We reassured him that The MET would be very different from a belligerent pub audience. It was rewarding to give Graham the chance to have a really good gig just 24 hours after having a really crappy gig. Graham took to the stage and was really on-form, winning the audience and earning big laughs.

Our Headline Act for the night was the very talented Danny Deegan. JUICE first saw Danny on a bill in Saltaire, then again at The Comedy Store in Manchester, and we’ve wanted to book him ever since. A swaggering, entertaining performer, Danny is a comedian at the top of his game and really delivered for us.

But perhaps the star turn of the night came from Fern Brady. Fern is an act who came highly recommended to JUICE by Kiri Pritchard-McLean, a comedian and producer who really knows her shit when it comes to stand-up. Fern performed for us last year at Cocktails & Comedy, but since then she has really evolved and improved as a comic. Whilst her caustic wit is as sharp ever, her delivery has become deft. Fern has also devoleped the ability to bring the audience alongside as she cuts various figures and institutions down to size. Rather than feeling like a comedian ranting at the listener, Fern puts her arm around the audience’s shoulders and takes them with her through her performance.

As ever, Paul Savage returned as our Host & Compere. Paul is able to forge a bond with virtually any audience over the course of a comedy show, and this has only been heightened by making him the Resident MC for all our shows at The MET. Paul’s natural warmth is a huge asset to any comedy night. He wants the audience to have a good time and manages to perfectly convey that onstage.

Click here for an alternative review of the evening by the Staffordshire Newsletter.

Monday night was our penultimate New Act / New Material Night at Joxer Brady’s, and it was chock-full of talent. The talented Aaron Twitchen delivered a new routine in preparation of his Edinburgh Show in a month’s time. Rob Kemp returned to deliver another deconstruction of stand-up. Kemp is a young, unpolished comic who is developing a very interesting voice in the world of comedy, certainly one JUICE is keeping a close eye on.

Being our second-to-last show at our homeground, we put the feelers out to any old friends who have gone on to great success who might want to return. Matt Tiller did a number of performances for JUICE in our early days, and even took part in one of our shows at the down-and-dirty Bird In Hand. Since then Matt has gone on to have great success, taking two acclaimed shows to the Edinburgh Festival before segueing into an even bigger career. Matt has become a TV producer and director, developing a number of shows for television and working as the Executive Producer on BBC 2’s Hebburn. We were thrilled when Matt agreed to return to his roots and give us a special performance of his old set.

Sadly this entire first section of three comedians was mirred by a group of noisy customers on the other side of pub, who merriment was drowning out the comedy for a number of the audience. There was nothing malicious about the group in question, they weren’t trying to derail the show, it was just an unfortunate consequence of running a comedy night in the back of pub.

After a short break the noisy group left and the show ran much more smoothly. Dave Pitt and Jack Kirwan had nice turns (both are developing their styles), Rob Thomas had to put down a couple of loud chatters at the bar but did so with aplomb. Chris McIlroy came across with great stage presence and seems to have put a lot of work into his persona.

James Hately finished the show off with a wonderful piece of surreal comedy, throwing dozens of unique and interesting ideas at the audience in a small space of time. James is always a beautiful counter-point to a succession of traditional stand-ups, and a nice way to end the evening.

It’s certainly going to be sad when we have our final ever comedy night at Joxer Brady’s on 1st July, and it’s certainly going to be strange when we start running the monthly show over at Number 15. However, the change of venue will allow us to improve the show and correct some of the issues that have cropped up over the years. For example, at Number 15 the only people in the venue will be the audience that we bring to it. So never again will we have a noisy group of other customers spoiling the show for the audience.

Speaking of Number 15, we’re back there on Tuesday night with the second of our exciting Edinburgh Preview Shows. Talented professional comedians Phil Ellis and Katie Mulgrew will both be bringing their solo shows to Stafford on the way up to the world’s biggest arts festival in Edinburgh. Click here to find out more!

JUICE Chat with Fern Brady

“they weren’t allowed to eat the curry until I was finished doing jokes about feminism and the media and politics”

What attracted you to performing stand-up?

“I gained stage time performing as a lapdancer from 2006-08. Once a Geordie stag in a lime green mankini has heckled you repeatedly with “THE LEFT ONE’S BIGGER THAN THAN THE RIGHT ONE” the notion of performing comedy while wearing all of your clothes is relatively benign. I also felt ordering drunk men to their knees and beating them with a whip while shouting “Neigh like a horse! Neigh, horsey, neigh!” really built my confidence and ability to interact with an audience.

I then honed my writing through doing a eulogy at my granda’s funeral in 2008. It went so well some people actually forgot their grief and laughed through the tears. At the wake people were asking for copies of it. That’s when I knew I had something.”

How would you describe your comedy?

“Heart-warming stories gently mocking the working-class caricatures from my childhood in Glasgow’s tenements. “Brady brings the salt-of-the-earth characters of her childhood to life in her Scots lilt – Bessie the eccentric spinster from next door, Earnest Jim the chimney sweep and her rosy-cheeked alcoholic father Paddy are all mined for chuckles by this enchanting female comedienne. You always believed in racist stereotypes about the Scots – who knew they could be this funny?!?!”

Your comedy has been described as “nihilistic”. Do you feel nihilistic? Or have reviewers just confused existential nihilism with “being Scottish”?

“They often do – and why wouldn’t they? As anyone who’s not a total mongo knows: we are nothing if not defined by our nationality, something Benedict Anderson elaborates on in ‘Imagined Communities’ (1983). The Scots are dour, depressive and resentful – just as people from the African nations love to dance, eat watermelon and rape our white women.

I sometimes fantasise about being English. I think about how smooth my accent would be and how I could walk through this country unstigmatised. How when I order chips in a comedy club, staff would nod obediently, not laugh and say “That sounds like ‘chaps’! ‘Chaps’! Say it again!” before telling me they have an aunt from Stirling as if we’re then going to have some sort of affinity with one another.

I’m glad you asked anyway as sometimes people don’t and I start to worry I’m no longer Scottish. I feel my identity slipping away. I think: “does he know I’m Scottish cause he hasn’t mentioned it yet”. But you mentioned it and the balance of the world is restored.”

Where’s your favourite place to perform?

“In a comedy club. I once had to gig in front of a curry buffet and they weren’t allowed to eat the curry until I was finished doing jokes about feminism and the media and politics. They just wanted their curry. Still traumatised.”

You started gigging in 2010 and in just three years you won place as Finalist in prestigious nationwide competitions, Hackney Empire New Act Of The Year and So You Think You’re Funny. Surely it’s all downhill from here?

“The other night someone asked me to come to their Komedy Inkubator to work on my jokes. “They don’t even realise my status in the comedy world” I thought to myself. I went into the toilets and cried.”

Who are your favourite comedians on the circuit right now?

“I hate comedians. My boyfriend’s very funny. When we break up, as all relationships inevitably do, I’ll look back on this interview and regret I ever mentioned him.”

Who are your favourite comedians to travel with?

“A Manchester act called Danny Sutcliffe. Imagine you put a Lakeland terrier in a man-costume then got it drunk. That.”

Where can people learn more about you?

“Come to my Edinburgh Fringe show The Lunchtime Show at Just the Tonic’s Tron, 1-25 August 12.30 – 14.00. You could follow me on Twitter but you won’t hear my Scottish accent then.”

You can see Fern performing in Stafford on Friday 31st May when JUICE takes over The MET Studio!

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!