Weekends on the comedy scene can be something of a cultural wasteland. No matter how good the comics and the clubs are, on Friday/Saturday nights the places are more like a bear-baiting pit than a comedy gig. Hen and stag dos boost the finances of the clubs but when only a couple of the party are truly interested in the comedy and the rest want to chat to their mates, the result sees comedy material replaced by crowd control. To put on a night that is all about the comedy, banning the hens and stags, is a brave move but that’s what Rosalind Bell and Michael Clapham have done for this new night called Group Therapy. Bell has spent years on the comedy scene working for XSMalarkey (the weekly Tuesday night gig in Fallowfield) among others, while Clapham is a tour manager. They’ve teamed up with the same idea in mind: quality comedy at a weekend. The opening line up is a perfect sample with intelligent esoteric surrealisms from the ever-inventive Andrew O’Neill (pictured) wise words from Derby comic Dave Longley and effortless observations from Chorlton resident and Edinburgh comedy nominee Alun Cochrane.
Sat 29 Sep (and the last Saturday of every month), Gorilla, 54-56 Whitworth Street West, M1 5WW. Tel: 0161 407 0301, 8pm, £12, www.grouptherapycomedy.co.uk
- Words:
- Marissa Burgess
- Published on:
- Thu 27 Sep 2012
