January 2025 Blog. Here it goes again.
The Drome
We were officially back at it on January 3rd at the Picturedrome. For a gig that sold a lot more tickets than I expected for this early in the year. On the bill we had Rob Deering, Fiona Allen, Jon Wagstaffe and Martin Davis. Jon was a new act to us, having heard really good things from multiple sources, it was nice see another name we’d book again in a heartbeat.
It was also really nice to bring Martin Davis back to a venue he use to be resident MC for many years ago, before we starting booking comedy here. The sound technician Geoff also recognised Martin from back in the day and told us this brilliant story of an act not turning up, so Martin had to do their time slot, as well as hosting the show. Martin improvised by getting a member of the audience on stage and cutting their hair apparently! Bear in mind this must have been 15-20+ years ago, not sure how it would go down now… any volunteers?
Comics’ Comic Awards
Nina Gilligan has been named best act in the 2024 Comic’s Comic Award.
The accolade comes from her fellow professional comedians who were the only ones able to vote in these awards. Hayley Ellis was named Best MC and Janey Godly was awarded for her outstanding contribution to UK comedy.
January 9th - Charles Bradlaugh
Well this ended up being a really nice start to the year at the Bradlaugh. A lovely audience, 4 acts in fine form! We had Hal Cruttenden, Michelle Shaughnessy, Gbemi Oladipo and Paul Revill. For what was a very cold night, the atmosphere in that room was far from it.
Pictured below: Hal Cruttenden and Gbemi Oladipo
January 17th - Charles Bradlaugh
A Friday night special at the Bradlaugh and a sold out one at that. It had a Friday night feel to it as well. Like anything could happen. We were treated to a very strong opening section from Scott Bennett, obviously. What blows my mind is having worked with Scott on many occasions since we started out, his recent appearance on the Royal Variety and Live at the Apollo and just smashing it on social media has caused a huge new influx of fans. So the moment the MC announced him on stage there was this huge roar. Thoroughly deserved for one of the nicest acts around.
Hosting the show was Russell Arathoon, who did an excellent job and had many people complimenting him after the show. It was quite funny watching Michael McIntyre’s Big Show the following night and suddenly popping up is Russell. From the Brad to the Big Show.
We also had 2 middle acts, Abbie Edwards and Osman Shibli, both of whom have very promising futures in the industry. Then we were treated to a masterclass in stand up from Ian Stone. Such a shame he’s an Arsenal fan…
Weekender acts announced so far…
January 29th - Saints Coffee
Another wave of gigs booked in at Saints Coffee with a mixture of new acts and new material. We spent HOURS sifting through around 220 applications this time around.
Considering this was late in the month when everyone is skint, the weather was so cold. We ended up having a really good turn out. Not just that but with a nice crowd that was up for shaking those January blues.
For this one we had Kirk Fontaine, Jacob Nussey, Abdul Mustakim, Lizzie Simpson, George SV and Alexandra Krekan. All the acts had some really good stuff, the audience certainly got more than £6’s worth of entertainment!
As of next month however, these gigs are getting a £1 upgrade. Each month there will be a pro headline act in every month to do 20 minutes of new stuff. Over the next few months we’ve got the likes of Darren Harriott, Radu Isac and Kwame Asante booked in. These nights are a lot of fun, giving valuable stage time to acts to hone their material and showcase emerging talent.
STUFF
This year in the BLOGS. We’re going to add some additional bits of content under the header of STUFF, whether that be promoting a comedy special on YouTube, or a new book, or something else that’s cool and worth us mentioning…
With that in mind we highly recommend you check out Mark Simmons special ‘Quip Off The Mark’ that he released this week on YouTube. We are big fans of Mark at the Crate, he’s one of the best one liner comics around and we can’t wait to have him back in Northampton will all new jokes. STUFF…
January completed.
February loading…