Comments on: Is the Birmingham comedy scene any good?

By: Bernadette O'Brien

Bernadette O'Brien — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:57:12 +0000

Has he been to the Laughing Cows comedy at the Kitchen Garden Cafe, Kings Heath or the Laughing Sole at the Royal Oak, Stirchley? These are regular sell-out monthly/bi-monthly comedy clubs and are a great night out.

By: Jane Tavener

Jane Tavener — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:57:12 +0000

I don’t think the Glee Club and the MAC are too bad for comedy – just seen Tim Key and Richard Herring at the Glee and the MAC has Daniel Kitson and Simon Munnery playing shortly. I certainly find the comedy scene here to be much better than the music scene, which is mostly WANK.

By: Rónán Mac Gearailt

Rónán Mac Gearailt — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:57:11 +0000

Super-similar to the unsigned music scene!

By: Mandy Rose

Mandy Rose — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:57:10 +0000

Wonder where he get his stats from. News to me. Dave Gorman was at the Birmingham Hippodrome last Saturday – great crowd – and filmed for Dave TV – likewise Michael McCintyre was full, Dara O’ Briain sold out and John Cleese plays 3 nights in May. Seems to me Brummies love to laugh.

By: Paul Stokes

Paul Stokes — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:57:10 +0000

Mandy, you should read the article before posting, you have completely proved his point. Michael McIntyre sell-out gigs were not the focus here!

By: Andy hodder

Andy hodder — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 09:14:44 +0000

I live in Kent and until recently there was no comedy circuit or scene at all, a friend of mine is now slogging away to change this (comedyisland.co.uk)

but the real reason for my post was I have just started stand up and I have to visit birmingham for a weeks training in may. I thought whilst there I could easily pop along to one, maybe 2 open mic nights and try my stuff.

I have been really surprised at the lack of this sort of night in such a great city, it reminds me of Kent!

If anyone has any ideas they would be appreciated!
Andy

By: Lorna

Lorna — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:38:36 +0000

I run a comedy impro night and we have a great group of local comedians and actors. We do Whose Line style games and have sketches and stand up. We’ve recently moved to The Station Pub in Kings Heath where we have our practice sessions on Mondays 7-9. If anyone would like to come and get involved your very welcome as we are always on the look out for new Funbaggers and comedy acts. If any promoters would like to do some cross-prom too, drop me a line on :)

The Funbags Comedy Cabaret
20th April, 8pm, £5
The Station Pub, Kings Heath, Birmingham
Join the hillarious Funbags Comedy Impro Troupe plus special guests for an evening of quality games, sketches and stand-up. This month we have special guest Freddie Farrell, a budding stand-up making waves around the West Midlands, as well as the usual ‘Whose Line’ style games from a wealth of local comedy talent, and an Alan Bennett style monologue thrown in for good measure.
Come get your Funbags squeezed!

By: Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:53:38 +0000

Drawing on personal experience, I think the previous comments regarding a lack of visibility is probably the main problem. For example, I live round the corner from The Bear and had no idea that it still hosted the occasional comedy night. I saw it mentioned in Frank Skinner’s first book (~2yrs ago) but assumed such events had long since vanished as I hadn’t seen or heard anything.
Another problem could simply be that people underestimate stand-up comedy they haven’t hear of. Before I moved to Brum, I had never seen live stand-up (being from the hills!) and I was rather skeptical – I also had a fear that being in a small venue would increase the chances of me being the stand-up’s hapless victim for the evening! I know I’m not the only one to have thought this, and its a daft preconception that should be addressed.
My experience of Brum (and the Black Country) has been that there is a natural sense of humour about the people, much of which is some of the most secure self-deprecation I’ve ever heard.

I have recently been inspired to promote new comedy acts (particularly Birmingham based), and have been exploring various online media resources (youtube, twitter etc) – but currently limited by my following. I have a few ideas and I would certainly be very keen to get involved in any promotional projects

By: Simon Harper

Simon Harper — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:56:03 +0000

Ian – some very good points and a lot of stuff to think about. I agree that the onus should be on promoters to get their message across rather than audiences being solely responsible for seeking it out themselves – if promoters aren’t enthusiastic enough about what they’re doing to sing its praises, why should audiences be expected to care?

I’d certainly like to make Who’s Laughing Now bigger and better, and a site which offers promoters a platform – whether it’s WLN or another site – sounds like a very good idea.

By: Ian Ravenscroft

Ian Ravenscroft — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:47:59 +0000

Having seen all the comments so far, I’d like to see Who’s Laughing Now (or something similar) make closer ties with the city’s promoters and act as a platform for them, as well as a resource for audience members.

As well as the reviews, previews, listings, and features, a directory of promoters so people can see the active clubs and venues in the city might help. If this could collect together their reviews, upcoming shows, ticket links, flyers, open performer slots, contact details and general info, that’d be cool.

It seems as a city we aren’t doing the basics to help comedy audiences find the good stuff so some general tips to help ‘skill up’ promoters in the basics of online promotion (such as where to add listings, who to send press releases to, etc) might be a good way of boosting visibility and coverage.

Maybe a weekly what’s on mailing list? A Facebook page?

Just throwing out suggestions here.