The Homecoming Show

Last night was the Homecoming Show for our Comedy Club at it’s new venue, The Market Vaults and it was a great success! There were a couple of teething problems with the sound and comedian Liam Pickford had to drop out at the last minute, but we packed the venue with a great audience, had a lot of laughs and raised some money for charity.

The response to our Homecoming Show was been brilliant, and we had 50+ excited punters in the building. All the seats were taken, it was standing room only and the rest of the audience crammed themselves into the pub to watch the show.

Chris Norton Walker drove all the way from London to have a prolonged-yet-hilarious argument with virtually the entire audience.

Critically-acclaimed Michael J Dolan explained why he hates himself, hates other people and hates life, and we somehow laughed through all of it.

We also had a last minute replacement in the form of Tom Little, who stepped in to replace Liam Pickford. As replacements go, Tom Little was fantastic. Tom was a Finalist in the BBC Radio New Comedy Awards last year, and earlier this year he won the prestigious Leicester Mercury Comedian Of The Year award.

Tom’s persona is unique, fascinating and hilarious and he had the 50+ audience in the palm of his hand from beginning to end.

As promised, our Homecoming was an exciting, chaotic and funny show. Best of all, the generous audience helped us raise £100 for House Of Bread, giving donations that will help vulnerable adults & low-income families in Stafford.

The next JUICE Comedy Club is on Monday 3rd August at 8pm.

Market Vaults Line-Up

We’re just two weeks away from our Homecoming Show at The Market Vaults, and we couldn’t be more excited!

For those of you who haven’t been to our monthly comedy club before, it’s a great show. We play host to a collection of professional stand-up comedians from all over the country, who come to the heart of Stafford to road-test some brand new jokes and material. The quality of comedians we attract is always high, and we can now exclusively reveal the line-up for 6th July!

Michael J Dolan – the grumpy misanthrope of the stand-up circuit, a comic who levies hilarious negativity at life itself. Michael performs for major comedy clubs such as The Stand, The Frog & Bucket and XS Malarky as well as Headlining our JUICE show at The Gatehouse Theatre. Described as “Skilful humour from the very dark side” by The Sunday Times.

Chris Norton Walker – a prolific comedian and actor, Chris has gigged the length and breadth of the country as well as performing at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. One of the most-requested comedians we’ve ever had at JUICE, his animated performances & dry delivery are exciting and memorable.

Liam Pickford – one of the most exciting new comedians on the circuit today, Liam’s act is part-anarchic-stand-up & part-alcoholic-breakdown, which has led him to be described at “the new Johnny Vegas” (by us). Liam hates audiences, hates comedy and only does it for the free beer.

Paul Savage – jack-of-all-trades, Savage is a professional comedian, MC & cartoonist. One of the longest-serving comedians at our comedy club, Paul is the Resident MC for all our professional comedy nights. The last night he played our comedy club at Joxer Brady’s, he leaped onto the audience who crowd-surfed him from the back to the front of the building.

Tom Allsopp – a verbose story-telling comedian, Tom had his very first stand-up gig at JUICE and hasn’t looked back since. A firm-favourite with the JUICE audience, Tom is now an accomplished playwright and Champion of BBC game show Pointless.

The show will be hosted by Stafford comedian & JUICE Founder Rob Halden, who will be generally titting around and delivering nonsense.

Exciting comedians, great night out and FREE entry!

Monday 6th July 8pm at The Market Vaults

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.

JUICE Chat with Michael J Dolan

“There’s no point being right all the time if no cunt’s listening.”

Michael J Dolan is one of the most interesting and cerebral comics in the UK. His fiendishly well-written material seethes with a palpable misanthropy that has won him rave reviews and celebrity fans. We spoke to Dolan ahead of his upcoming Edinburgh Preview in Stafford on May 14th.

JUICE: How did you get your start in comedy?

“There’s a handful of archetypal routes into stand-up, I came via the ‘depressed parent’ trail. As a kid when one of your folks is depressed you don’t have the faculties to see what’s wrong but you can sense something’s up, so you start clowning and get laughs and you feel like you made it ok. If my mum had discovered Prozac a couple of decades earlier I might be a lawyer now.”

JUICE: What attracted you to performing stand-up?

“That last answer stank of some hard therapy, if I’d never seen that bad psychiatrist I’d probably have said something else. Certainly the appeal of forcing large groups to listen to you, and if they interrupt they get kicked the fuck out of the room is a big draw. There’s no point being right all the time if no cunt’s listening.”

JUICE: Your previous Edinburgh Show ‘Dress To Depress’ garnered you glowing reviews and won you a high-profile fan in Sarah Millican. As a self-confessed curmudgeon, has this success improved your outlook on life? Are you now a cheery fellow?

“Let’s be honest there were some shit reviews as well. I’ve had plenty of those. My favourite bad quote is “watching Michael J Dolan die on stage is akin to watching somebody deliberately scrape their fingernails down a blackboard for twenty minutes”. If that sounds like your cup of tea you should come along.”

JUICE: What can we expect from your new solo show ‘Nothing Will Ever Be Alright Again’?

“Death, madness, apocalypse.”

JUICE: Who are you looki”ng forward to seeing at the Festival this year? Who should we be looking out for?

“I don’t know who’s on really. I’ll probably book a ticket for Alexei Sayle, he’s definitely on. Phil Ellis’s show is shaping up to be the funniest thing anybody will see this year, I was at one of the previews and it was dynamite. I’ll try and see Bridget Christie, Nish Kumar is good, Peacock and Gamble, all them. Mostly though I imagine I’ll be sat in the flat playing Lego City.”

JUICE: Stand-Up Comedy – art or science?

“It’s definitely not science.”

 

You can see a special Preview of Michael’s brand new Edinburgh show (along with Tony Jameson) on Tuesday 14th May at Number 15. E-mail juicecomedy@gmail.com for tickets!

Tuesday 12th March 2013

This week the J-blog gets to break some very exciting news to you, our Dear Reader! We’ve been working with some lovely people to bring a series of Edinburgh Preview Shows to the heart of Stafford! Every year comedians try to craft a full-length, solo show out of their stand-up act, aiming to wow critics at the world’s biggest arts festival. This year JUICE has managed to snare some of the best up-and-coming comics on the circuit, and they’ll be bringing their solos shows to super-cool bistro Number 15 on Greengate Street, in the build-up to the Edinburgh Festival!

Over three months and three dates, JUICE & Number 15 will be bringing you SIX of the best new solo shows on their way to the Festival!

 

Tuesday 14th May

The first of our Preview Shows will bring Michael J. Dolan’s new show “Nothing Will Ever Be Alright Again” to the stage. Michael’s contemplative, hate-filled comedy has earned him accolades and praise. His 2012 show “Dress To Depress” garnered numerous 4 Star Reviews at last year’s Edinburgh Festival, and was singled-out by Sarah Millican who said “One of my fave shows is Michael J. Dolan. Grumpiness has never been smart and funny.”

Also on the May show with Michael will be Tony Jameson’s “Football Manager Ruined My Life”. Tony is an accomplished and talented comic from Newcastle, who regularly performs for major comedy clubs such as The Frog & Bucket, Comedy Central and The Stand. Tony also did a star-turn for JUICE Comedy last year at The Gatehouse Theatre. Tony’s obsession with computer game Football Manager has led him to ruin, and that ruin is at the heart of his hilarious new show.

 

Tuesday 11th June

In June we get to welcome back an old JUICE friend in the form of Phil Ellis! Phil performed for JUICE a number of times in his formative days, and has gone on to have great success on the comedy circuit. As well as being a regular performer for major comedy clubs such as Jongleurs and The Glee Club, Phil has also written and appeared in TV projects for both Dave and BBC Three. Phil’s 2013 solo show is an inventive and interactive journey of self-discovery and giggles, fueled by his madcap energy and maverick charm!

Sharing the spotlight in June (disclaimer: there’s no spotlight) will be the marvelous Katie Mulgrew! Over the years Katie’s brand of comedy has earned her a place as Finalist in the prestigious nationwide Funny Women competition, and has made her a fixture in major comedy clubs such as Highlight and The Frog & Bucket!

 

Tuesday 16th July

In July our Preview Show will feature the highly respected and experienced Dan Nightingale! Dan has been one of the most sought-after warm-up men in the country, working for both the BBC and ITV and acting as the regular warm-up act for The Jonathon Ross Show. Dan has performed for virtually every big comedy club in the country, and last year his show “The 11 And A 1/2 Ill-Conceived Edinburgh Shows Of Dan Nightingale” received wide-spread acclaim and multiple 5 Star Reviews at the Festival. The comedy circuit eagerly awaits his 2013 show!

Sharing the July show with Dan will be JUICE Comedy Award Winner, Kiri Pritchard-McLean! Kiri is one our favourite performers on the circuit, she was on the bill at our first-ever show at The Gatehouse Theatre, took part in Cocktails & Comedy at Number 15 and has made numerous appearances at our New Material Night down at Joxer Brady’s. We can’t wait to see what Kiri’s got in store for us with her solo show!

So that’s our season of Edinburgh Previews in Stafford! Fantastic comedians with exciting solo-shows! They are all on Tuesday nights and the dates to remember are;

14th May

11th June

16th July

Tickets will be priced at just £5 each! That’s £5 for a night consisting of TWO Preview shows! Tickets will be available very soon from Number 15!