Comedy Club Line-Up

Next Monday night JUICE will return to the fantastic Market Vaults pub in Stafford with our monthly Comedy Club! This exciting show is a mix of professional comedians testing out new jokes & material, as well as some newer comedians gaining experience. It’s always a fun, unpredictable show from start to finish.

Last month marked our return to The Market Vaults for the first time in two years, and it was a great show. We packed the pub with somewhere between 50 and 60 punters, everyone having a good time. Through out partnership with House Of Bread, we raised £100 for low-income families, vulnerable adults and homeless people across Stafford. The House Of Bread will be back next Monday night and we’re hoping to SMASH £100 and raise even more money!

The line-up of professional comedians for August has been confirmed and we’re very excited about some JUICE Favourites returning to Stafford!

 

Craig Deeley – a stalwart of the Midlands comedy scene, Craig is an experienced, professional comedian who delights audiences with his story-telling style. A true Favourite of JUICE Comedy, Craig has performed at virtually all our venues over the years.

Kate McCabe – a comedian who got her start on the New York comedy circuit, Kate crossed the pond to join the Northern comedy scene in the UK. Adept at both stand-up and improve comedy, we were lucky enough to have Kate perform for us as part of our professional show at The Gatehouse Theatre in June.

 

Harriet Dyer – Energetic, unique and bonkers, Harriet Dyer is a stand-up comedian no audience will forget. JUICE was lucky enough to book Harriet during some of her earliest gigs, but now she regularly performs for major comedy clubs such as The Glee Clubs, The Stand and The Frog & Bucket.

Also on the bill will be Jayne Edwards, Adam Blaize, Graham Wythenshaw and Joe Ross Williams. As ever, this line-up is subject to change.

Monday 3rd August at The Market Vaults, Stafford. The show starts at 8pm, but spaces in the pub are LIMITED so make sure you arrive at 7:30 in order to get a good spot to enjoy the show.

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.

Wednesday 17th July 2013

Last night our Season of Edinburgh Previews concluded with two more excellent full-length comedy shows. The quality of these comedy shows has been very high, comedy fans and casual punters alike have been full of praise for all the performers and their shows in the build-up to Edinburgh. Last night was no different.

One big road block occurred a fortnight before the event, when scheduled performer Dan Nightingale had to drop out. Dan is a comedian in such high demand that he was suddenly offered some very high-profile work for Channel 4. This was obviously an opportunity that Dan could not pass up, and we really hope we’ll be able to showcase him in Stafford in the near future because he’s an excellent comic.

One show down left us in a tricky spot, but luckily we were able to book in the sketch troupe Gein’s Family Giftshop. Comprised of talented performers James Meehan, Kath Hughes and Ed Easton, this trio have been causing a real stir on the Northern comedy circuit and JUICE has been eager to see their act for months.

Audience numbers weren’t quite what we’d hoped for, but the punters we did have in were a lovely, eager lot of laughers. The comedians were all delayed by traffic, which meant that MC Rob Halden had to fill quite a bit of time. He did this by pulling a reluctant volunteer out of the audience and creating a shambolic bit of improv sketch comedy that was cheerfully bad but got everyone involved and laughing.

The first part of the Previews came courtesy of JUICE Award-Winner Kiri Pritchard-McLean. Kiri’s is a show of bitter-sweet anecdotes about childhood and relationships, relayed with a dry wit that’s just this side of sardonic. It’s a show peppered with some well-crafted dark punchlines that are nicely set amongst some more life affirming stories. Kiri also has a natural talent for performing, and these small physical touches add greatly to the material.

Gein’s Family Giftshop were the final act in our Edinburgh Season, the first sketch group JUICE has hosted, and they were absolutely fantastic. Short, sharp sketches that delivered more jokes-per-minute than most stand-up on today’s circuit. The sketches are inventive and enthralling, with some very clever deconstruction at work that, crucially, didn’t go over anybody’s head. Press releases have labelled the act as being “dark” but there’s far too many laughs and giggles for this to be taken to heart. There are big punchlines, hilarious little lines and some excellent performances.

All three members of Gein’s display sublime comedy timing, fully-committed acting that snares the audience and really gets them believing in the characters and scenarios before it’s all undercut by the big jokes and funny endings.

The audience absolutely loved this show and were raving about it at the bar afterwards and later that night on Facebook & Twitter. JUICE are already eagerly awaiting the next time we can bring this excellent sketch troupe back to Stafford. In the meanwhile, we highly recommend seeing them at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Sunday Share

The Sunday Share this week is the precisely funny Henning Wehn performing for the BBC!

Wednesday 3rd July 2013

 
This week featured the end of an era for JUICE, as we bid farewell to Joxer Brady’s, our original venue and the home of our monthly New Act / New Material Show. JUICE began life at Joxer’s eight-and-a-half years ago when Neil Reading & Rob Halden started dicking around in the back of a pub. From their it grew into a well-respected performance space for stand-up comics, and acted as the launching-pad for JUICE to move into bigger venues and more diverse shows.

With Joxer Brady’s going through a change of management it felt like the perfect time for JUICE to move away from running shows in pubs. So to bid farewell to Joxer’s we assembled some of our favourite performers for a final show. It ended up being a wild and unpredictable evening of beautiful grass-roots stand-up.

As ever the night was hosted by Neil Reading & Rob Halden, who have started to compliment each other well as co-comperes. Rob spouts off near non-stop ranting, which gives Neil time to work on considered and funny interjections. Some of the high points of their MC’ing involved picking on a young lad on the front table who worked in a Particle Accelerator, chatting to a local author about her latest novel, and the constant mocking of Paul Savage.

The show kicked off with Chris Norton Walker, who immediately started pulling people out of the audience and getting them to stand on the stage. With no explanation of what he was doing, Chris sent punter after punter up onto the stage. He then arranged them like a football team taking a group photo, and had Rob Halden lie across the knees of the lads crouching at the front. Once this was all over, Chris revealed that his ten minutes was up and left the stage after not telling a single joke, but receiving a great deal of laughs.

Craig Deeley returned things to normal next, bedding the audience in before trying out some new material. Craig is consistently one of the funniest people on Social Media, following him pays endless dividends, and it was interesting to see how these observations and one-liners translated from the screen to the Microphone.

Billy McGuire is one of the longest serving comedians to perform for JUICE. He’s been with us since the early days, performed for us in a muddy tent at Stafford Castle and on the lovely stage of The Gatehouse Theatre. Billy’s affable act was wistful, funny and charming.

Closing the first section of the bill was Johnny Sorrow, an absolute legend on the West Midlands comedy circuit. When introducing him, Rob Halden tried to lay-in Johnny’s backstory and create an air of uncertainty in the audience (something which Johnny’s act feeds off). But the crowd knew exactly who was coming on stage and the cheers and applause for him was deafening. Despite Johnny’s act being largely the same as the last few times JUICE has seen him, Johnny never seems to get apathetic with his delivery and always throws in something different into each performance. The people in the audience who had never seen Johnny before were quickly swept up in waves of giddy laughter that everyone else was experiencing. The audience began chanting along with Johnny’s catchphrases, egging him on to the next punchline that they all knew in advance. It would have been impossible to leave Joxer Brady’s without having Johnny Sorrow on the bill.

We came out of the break with “The G’vnor” Dave Dinsdale in fine form. It’s been a while since Dinzy has played for JUICE, but he really threw himself into this performance with energy and vigor. As well as his tried and tested material, Dave brought out some new jokes to JUICE and these contained some absolute gems we’re still thinking about today.

The Men With Bananas were a late addition to this show, mainly because they’ve stopped gigging. We’d assumed that they’d moved on with their lives and were no longer available. Luckily a message or two on Facebook ensured that this unconventional double-act reunited for the first time in two years just for JUICE! The Bananas were a big part of our early days at Joxer Brady’s and it was really special to have them back. Their larger-than-life act is full of silliness, songs, props and audience interaction. These are an act that really should have made it big on the major Festivals and would be right at home with a spot on BBC3’s Live At The Electric.

Following a second break, Paul Savage was due to be introduced. The problem with this is that Rob Halden and Paul Savage are very good friends, which means that whenever Rob is supposed to introduce Paul, he just repeatedly fucks with him. Earlier in the show Rob had shared a number of stories at Paul’s expense, and now he stole Paul’s T-shirt and used it to mock him. Paul swaggered on stage, yelled that he’d be doing this gig for eight years and didn’t want to do any jokes. “All of you, put your hands up and move into the middle. I am going to Crowd Surf you!”

Now, the above sounds like a funny way to start off a set. A wild and outrageous demand that the comedian will soon move on from. However, this was not Paul Savage’s plan. Instead, he leapt into the waiting arms of the audience and literally crowd-surfed! The audience held Paul up high and carried him across the length of the pub, depositing him safely on his feet! Savage then yelled “I’m not doing any fucking jokes!” and promptly left the pub to a thunderous applause.

Tom Allsopp had the unenviable task of having to follow that spectacle, with an audience now giddy after what they all just got involved in. He made a very good accounting of himself with some witty stories and presented a poem that was extremely well written and managed to be both funny and touching at the same time, without one disparaging the other.

The final comedian on the bill was the first ever comedian on the bill, Lovdev Barpaga bringing things full circle. Since first performing for us nearly nine years ago, Lovdev has gone on to make regular appearances at The Glee Club and The Comedy Store. Having Lovdev closed out our time at Joxer’s was very fitting.

When all was said and done, Neil & Rob sung a bad but enthusiastic version of ‘Send In The Clowns’ and the lovely audience indulged them with a standing ovation. What was perhaps most pleasing was to see so many comedians from the circuit in the audience. Comics who were scheduled to perform, but had just showed up to raise and glass and mark the occasion.

So it’s onwards and upwards for JUICE! On Monday 5th of August we relocate the monthly New Act / New Material Show to Number 15 on Greengate Street in Stafford town centre. A lovely bistro that will be more suited to our needs, and to the needs of our audience. The layout will be better, the arrangement of chairs will be much better for everyone’s viewing pleasure. We won’t have to deal with any disturbance from pub drinkers who aren’t there for the comedy. All-in-all it’ll be a much better experience for all.

To kick things off in style at our new venue, as well as the regular bout of new comedians finding their feet and some established veterans testing out new material, we’ve hired top professional comic Andy White to deliver a Headline set and close the show! Andy is a highly experience comic who regularly performs for all the major comedy clubs including The Glee Club, Jongleurs and The Comedy Store! We’re really excited about working with Andy and we hope you’ll join us as we start this new chapter in Stafford comedy!

Sunday Share

This week’s Sunday Share is the talented and marvelous
Boy With Tape On His Face at The Royal Variety Performance!

Top Tips

Every Tuesday on our Social Media sites, we bring you the very best tips for living your life!

JUICE Tip!
Prison Wardens. Improve your performance statistics by not allowing ANY cakes into the jail at all. Birthday or no birthday.

JUICE Tip!
Graffiti artists. Not enough time to spray what you want on walls? Buy some bricks, spray-paint them at home, then simply build a wall.

JUICE Tip!
Avoid intrusive Paparazzi by never actually becoming famous. Dodge success at all costs!

JUICE Tip!
No credit to text? Simply order a pizza and have it delivered to your friend’s house with a message arranged on it in cheese and ham.

JUICE Tip!
Confuse elderly relatives by going to their house every day and insisting that it’s your weekly visit.

JUICE Tip!
Do you enjoy hot crumpets but don’t enjoy the cost of cooking hot crumpets? Avoid pricey gas & electricity bills by inserting a series of lit matches into all of the crumpet’s tiny holes.

JUICE Tip!
Do you have a surplus of sugar in the house? Have an extension built, then the builders will take care of all your sugary woes!

JUICE Tip!
Put too much water in your kettle when making a cup of tea? Simply boil the kettle repeatedly until you’ve got the right amount.

JUICE Tip!
Instead of buying car insurance AND cat insurance, save money by leaving your cat in the car at all times, classing it as ‘Contents’.

JUICE Tip!
Air-Guitarists. Save money by down-sizing to an Air-Ukulele!

JUICE Tip!
Women. Wash your hair in the morning-time. That way you won’t have to keep turning people down for dates.

JUICE Tip!
Worm breeders. Instead of spending money on all those expensive female worms, simply cut your male worms in half.

JUICE Tip!
Hipsters. Instead of using Instagram, simply flood your photograph with terrible, orange light until the image is ruined.

JUICE Tip!
Parents. Save money by ripping the wings off a butterfly and leaving them under your child’s pillow. As they wake, inform them that they ate the Tooth Fairy in their sleep.

JUICE Tip!
Has some little oik smashed your window with their football? Simply super-heat some sand, limestone, dolomite etc., then super-freeze the mixture to sub-zero temperatures and voila! A brand new sheet of glass!

JUICE Tip!
Create your own darts board on a budget by nailing a pizza to the wall. Pepperonis are Doubles and little chunks of ham are Triples.

JUICE Tip!
Avoid Jet-Lag when you finish your holiday by flying for three hours in the opposite direction!

JUICE Tip!
Encourage yourself to save cash. Anytime you put a sum of money in the bank, reward yourself with a personalized & engraved trophy!

JUICE Tip
Super-Heroes. Stop worrying about fatal battles with your arch-nemesis, as any death you do experience will only last 12 to 15 months.

JUICE Tip!
Gamblers. Convince other players that you have really bad cards by wincing crying and then quitting the game.

JUICE Tip!
Out of bacon? Simply cut thin slices off a joint of Gammon. No Gammon? Simply squeeze together 50 slices of ham.

JUICE Tip!
Batman. Preserve your secret identity by NOT being a famous billionaire everyone would recognise without a mask.

JUICE Tip!
If you can’t find a spoon, simply hold a fork under a naked flame until all the prongs melt together.

JUICE Tip!
For a morning pick-me-up, try Meth Amphetamine. Whilst not as strong as Starbucks Double-Shot Espresso, it is significantly cheaper.

JUICE Tip!
Clowns. Instead of terrifying the people you’re supposed to be entertaining, why not find a more suitable role. Such as serial killer or rapist.

JUICE Tip!
Turn a potato waffle into a meal but inserting croutons into its square-holes.

JUICE Tip!
Spies. Blend in to your surrounding by not wearing long, conspicuous trenchcoats. Try a fleece.

JUICE Tip!
During an Earthquake, jump up and down to minimize the risk of injury by being in the air more.

JUICE Tip!
Superman. Stop squeezing coal and turning it into diamonds to impress all the ladies, as this destabilizes the economy.

JUICE Tip!
Dip a dummy in Brandy to soothe a crying baby. If they’re hurt, use four-fingers of Bourbon.

JUICE Tip!
Never tell intergalactic smugglers the odds. They’re not keen on it.

JUICE Tip!
Boots, The Chemist. Save money on your shop signs by shortening them to just say “Boots”. We all know that you’re a chemist.

JUICE Tip!
Remember someone’s name by writing a song about them. The more popular the song is in the charts, the more likely you are to remember them.

JUICE Tip!
Unemployed? Remember, homeopathy requires no knowledge or skill whatsoever! Hand onion-water to idiots and take their money!

JUICE Tip!
Women can add an extra seven years to their lives by not writing “u look gorge babes!” on every single photo they see on Facebook.

JUICE Tip!
Give yourself a long weekend by furiously quitting your job Friday morning, then re-applying for it on Tuesday under a pseudonym & false beard.

JUICE Tip!
Students. Why not spend all day in Starbucks even if you DON’T like coffee? You can split a Frappachino between nine of you, and then occupy all the comfy seats!

JUICE Tip!
Appreciate your home and possessions more by declaring yourself bankrupt and living as a tramp for ten years.

JUICE Tip!
Transform your cordless phone into a “mobile” phone by moving house a lot.

JUICE Tip!
Parents. Instead of buying your child that expensive Transformer toy, simply buy them a toy car AND a toy robot. Their imagination will do the rest.

JUICE Tip!
Employees of The Daily Planet. Consider a new profession. ‘Investigative Journalism’ is not your strong suit.

JUICE Tip!
Kids love a surprise. Buy them a Kinder Egg and tell them they’re adopted.

JUICE Tip!
Managers. Improve productivity by keeping a lion in your office. No one wants a dressing-down from Mr. Fuzzy Claws.

JUICE Tip!
Private Detectives. If business isn’t going well, start having affairs with married women.

JUICE Tip!
Avoid that summer-time Hosepipe Ban by connecting a series of Calippo lolly tubes to your outside tap.

JUICE Tip!
Wannabe Headbangers. Practice at home with soft-jazz and light head-wobbling before moving on to the hard stuff.

JUICE Tip!
If you can’t afford Alphabetti Spaghetti, simply cut your Spaghetti Hoops on one side and then twist into your desired letter.

JUICE Tip!
Criminals. Whilst Batman has a strict policy against using guns, he’s apparently fine with missiles, tanks & weaponized helicopters. So be careful.

JUICE Tip!
Crazy people. Put a slug in your ear to convince people you’ve got Blue Tooth. Then you can talk bollocks to yourself all day long without fear of judgement.

JUICE Tip!
Mobsters. Increase the fear of your cartel by taking credit for genuine ‘accidents’. People will pay through the nose to avoid being struck by lightning.

JUICE Tip!
If you need to borrow £1 from a stranger for your bus-fare home, try telling them you want it for Smack.

JUICE Tip!
Pirates. Instead of burying all your money on desert islands, why not spend it on things?

JUICE Tip!
If you want to keep your place in the book you’re reading, tear out the page, fold it in half and leave it in place as a sort of “book mark”.

JUICE Tip!
Parents. Instill in your children a firm belief in “God” and then, technically, you’re never leaving them unattended!

JUICE Tip!
Make bananas by removing them from the peel before reaching the check-out.

JUICE Facts!

Monday is full of JUICE Facts over on our Social Media sites! So Follow us on Facebook & Twitter for some essential trivia!

Sunday Share

This week’s Sunday Share features the marvelous Phil Ellis! You can see Phil LIVE in Stafford on Tuesday night, when he brings a Preview of his Edinburgh Show to Number 15! Contact us for tickets!