There’s a wonderful thing happening in Manchester at the moment, where people are going outside of the designated comedy clubs in order to find their laughter. It seems people have cottoned on to the fact that, like live music events, comedy can be performed anywhere. One chief proponent of this movement is Red Redmond and his Dead Cat Comedy nights, which have popped up in pubs and bars across the city. This time he is working under the delightful acronym of MACE (Manchester’s Alternative Comedy Experience) in Northern Quarter barbershop quartet hangout and also bar Kosmonaut. To kick off such a night in a left field venue Red has collected the best of the Manchester scene with Gein’s Family Giftshop, fresh off a near sell-out run at the Soho Theatre in London, Phil Ellis, the toast of last year’s Edinburgh festival where he walked away with the panel prize, and master of ceremonies from two other alternative comedy nights Quippodrome’s Jack Evans and Sidekick’s Kate McCabe. An embarrassment of riches and priced at only five of your English pounds it’s cheaper and more convenient than your average comedy club.

Thu 29 Jan, Kosmonaut, 10 Tariff Street, M1 2FF, From 8pm, £5, www.skiddle.com

Thu 29 Jan
Words:
John Stansfield
Published on:
Thu 22 Jan 2015