(Long | Voice Only) #1575 Let me bore you to sleep | Jason Newland | 16th March 2026

Hello and welcome to Let Me Bore You To Sleep and Vinnie is inches away from me just staring at me. You got your food down there?

I don't know what else, well I do know what he wants but Vinnie just chill out go sleep sleep so yeah welcome my name is Jason Newland please only listen when you can safely close your eyes and what was I gonna say um so I'd like to say thank you to Lucas and Shanthani for your Paypal gifts thank you very much going forward yeah there's no adverts on the podcast there's no adverts on my YouTube channel and this free service is financed solely um by Paypal gifts so I appreciate any

help and yeah thank you the I've got no idea what the Paypal I got I don't what is it called what's my Paypal address I don't know stop mentioning your Paypal it is paypal.me forward slash Jason Newland so the links are on my website which is jasonnewland.com which is my podcast website I also have a store jasonnewland.store where I've got thousands of recordings available for you to download for free yeah and they're all individual recordings um yeah that's it really there's a lot there a lot and today this Let Me

Bore You To Sleep is number 1575 blimey I've been doing this a while now you'd think I'd be good at it by now wouldn't you but I'm not so uh I've also got a YouTube channel you just search my name or Let Me Bore You To Sleep and I've got a Facebook group called Jason Newland's Boring Group and there's links to these from my website also I'm on TikTok,

Instagram and X I've also got a sore throat not that that's necessarily irrelevant but uh yeah so today what I've spent my time doing is working on the podcast Stress and Pain Relief so I've just been making sure that all the old recordings are all on there that the images are on there and it's taken a few days to put it all together to make sure it's all kind of roughly in order yeah so that's that's pretty good so there is 48 different recordings but you know there's different versions of

them as well so there's 185 episodes all together on my Hypnosis is Sleeping Deeply podcast I have 3348 episodes that includes all the you know different ones different lengths and stuff so still quite a lot I haven't got all my Let Me Bore You To Sleep on that podcast there is 1855 episodes but it goes back I don't know what it goes back to I'm eventually going to have them all on there but they are all available to download on the old jasonnuland.store oh yes I don't know how far back

this goes on the Let Me Bore You To Sleep podcast just trying to keep going backwards and backwards October last year October so today is Monday's Boring Objects I can't even bother to go all the way down because it's not allowing me to do it without it taking ages so Monday's Boring Objects where I talk about a specific subject or object and I've got no idea what I'm going to talk about today I really don't know let's see if I can think of something a little bit juicy a little bit

juicy maybe focus on a specific job I've had maybe or I'm going to talk about the comedy club so I'm going to talk about the comedy club that I was I absolutely loved in London so I'm going to talk about my involvement there and give you a rundown of the I might have done this before but I'm going to give you an outlay of the building as well including when I first started going there so in 1990 April I wrote down in a pad a writing pad like a refill pad

I've decided to become a comedian that was what I wrote down and I spent the next or the next part of the year up till December because it's easier to say that than try and count the months eight months six five something like that yeah I spent that time trying to write some material now I wasn't living anywhere near London so I moved to London January 1991 and I think my first gig at the comedy club was the 23rd of January 1991 now if it's a Wednesday how can I find

out if it's a Wednesday 23rd January 1991 right let's see if it was a Wednesday or not 23rd it was a Wednesday so yeah that was my first ever performance at that club and this is weird guess how many days ago it was 12 836 days ago 12 836 days wow wow I don't know why that's a wow moment but it is so I moved I would say I moved to London probably on Saturday the 5th of January maybe the 12th but I think probably the 5th and then I did

the 23rd wasn't the very first gig I ever did it was the first gig at an actual a proper comedy club because earlier in the month probably by the week before I did go to a talent show which was probably in a pub and there were singers and different kinds of thing and it didn't go so well and in probably the summer of 1990 I traveled up to London to apply for the Sky's Search for a star and I did I had to stand on this thing in front of people

it was just there's no audience it was just the production team and tell some jokes and it didn't go so well so you know that was my two kind of at least it broke the it gave me you know an experience of doing it even though I didn't know what I was doing and yeah I'm not I don't remember how I was feeling at the time so I came home so I did those two gigs before the very first gig which was the 23rd of January 1991 so what I did

is I saw that advert in I forget the magazine it was a magazine that um actors and that used to buy I forget the name of it because that's where I got the other two gigs from and this again was a talent contest now I didn't realize there was an actual comedy club I didn't even I didn't know what I was walking into I didn't know what I was I didn't even really know what I was moving to London for I knew I wanted to do comedy but I didn't know

really what comedy was outside of all the different albums I'd listened to and the videos I'd watched and stuff so I turn up at this gig it's in Shoreditch and I remember going there and I think I don't know but it might have been I might have actually already just started a new job because when I got to London on the 5th January the 5th of 1991 I told my landlady my new landlady that I had a job to go to which I think I thought I did but then because

I'd worked in London the previous year I went back to the place but there was no jobs there was no work and I went to my landlady this might be a short visit I might have to go back because there's no work and she she said oh I said yeah oh indeed she said hmm I said hmm and she said hmm and I wasn't sure if I should just keep repeating the sounds that she was making whether or not that would annoy her or not and but then she just stopped

and said well I'll speak to you later and she closed the door which I thought was a bit rude but not the first time that anyone's closed the door on me so I went upstairs to my room and it's in January so it wasn't you know the best weather to be going out and I was just sitting up there probably watching telly and and I heard like a bang she had she had a walking stick she used to bang it on the on the door and I heard her saying Jason

Jason new tenant so I think oh she's fallen over I think she's fallen over so I just carry on watching telly and she like keeps banging so like okay of course I wouldn't keep coming oh come on you know I'm so I go downstairs she says guess what I said what's that she's I have my best friend is HR boss at the what is it the bakery she's the best my best friend I said really she said she'll be around in about an hour really okay so she came around because

she was visiting anyway she was I don't know just good friends they were both Italian not that that's a reason to be friends with someone just because it's you know same place I've met a lot of English people I don't you know particularly want to be friends with most of them and I just I thought yeah why are you introducing me to your friends I just told you I haven't got a job I can't take her out I didn't know she was trying to sort of you know match me with

some kind of romantic manner anyway it turns out that she was her friend was in charge of HR at the bakery Sunbless Bakery in Walthamstow and she said oh no I said oh someone said oh I'm not sure it was no it was her because I trod on her foot and she said oh what heavy feet you have I said it's not really this the feet it's probably more the body than the feet the feet themselves I don't think weigh too much and she said how would you know I said

that's a good point how would how would anyone know apart from some really disturbed people and she said so you need a job I said yeah and she said if you ever had any experience in catering I said yeah I have wasn't a question I wanted to be asked but yeah I have did you like it no don't you the thing is that's a question that Noel would ask somebody so if you had experience in catering yeah did you like it no not gonna ask because it's it's not a nice

job really I didn't like it I mean the job I was doing was serving in the canteen it wasn't going to be a job that I would I mean it was okay but it was you know it was a job basically and I needed a job and it paid all right I mean probably minimum wage back then there was no minimum wage but it was you know it was all right I was okay so I worked there she got me the job basically she got me an interview she didn't give

me the job she got me an interview so I went along and the bloke that interviewed me was the chef and he hated being there because he was a chef and was literally preparing he's preparing food but in a canteen so there was some meals but he was a chef you know he wore a chef hat which was I mean there's nothing wrong with wearing a chef hat but he was it was like a greasy spoon really it was sausages and beans and eggs and and then just lasagna and chips

and sausages and beans and you know it was it wasn't anything spectacular but he didn't really do anything he was more of a just making sure everything kind of went together and he didn't have to do anything because we all did the job which I was fine because I like to keep busy if whenever I've worked the one thing I've can't really have been accused of is being lazy because I get bored I don't want to just do nothing I'd rather just get on and get something done you know that's

me in the past I mean nowadays blimey no I'm still not lazy I still even though I'm not getting paid and it's not like an official job making recordings and helping people to fall asleep I still put my energy into it when there are days when I can't do anything sometimes there's weeks when I can't do anything but you know I just I do my bestest do my bestest so I go to this job interview I still don't know if I want to work there I'll be honest because I've I

worked in a chip shop for two years so it was kind of a very similar experience in some ways you know cooking dealing with the public well they weren't really the public they worked there but so it's the same people every day and I realized I could have done I could done a boring objects on that job but I won't but I think I will do in the future because that bakery is definitely yeah there's a there's an easy hour out of that that place I tell you so anyway I

got that job now the reason I'm mentioning the job is I didn't work evenings and I worked one Saturday morning I think every two weeks was it every month I think every two weeks so it's actually really quite a good job actually in the sense of it paid me okay money it wasn't rubbish money it was average you know for what I was doing and I got to eat at work and so I only had to eat when I got home so I had I could eat was I allowed to

eat I'm pretty sure I was yeah because we would be there for the breakfast and then we'd be there for the lunch so I probably got two two dinners a day we could always always have something to eat anyway if you're working in a kitchen anyway so but I I had my evenings free which was the main thing because that's when I started doing the comedy so on the 23rd I would say here's my guess that I started working on the 14th the Monday the 14th and I did my first

gig on a Wednesday the 23rd so I finished work at I think it was four o'clock it was something like seven to four I think yeah something like that seven to four so I finished work went home got something to eat and went to this place now I've never even been to Shoreditch before I didn't think I'd never even been near Shoreditch I didn't think until you know a few weeks later when I realized this just around the corner from the Liverpool the Liverpool street station because I was going there

via bank so I was going to from Stratford on the Central line to Bank then going to Northern line from Bank to Old Street and then from Old Street coming up just walking around crossing the road and going all the way down there the road was that that alleyway I think of it more of an alleyway is a road but it was a more of an alleyway was in three parts and the club was further up it was at the the last part of the road on the right and I

went there and I couldn't believe there was like lights and it was an actual club and there was people in there I don't know what I expected maybe I was just expecting another pub or another kind of a place where people were just where they almost weren't expecting someone to get on stage but this was different it had a stage it had a a microphone on a stand it had a bar it had loads of tables and I just fell in love with the place straight away it's really weird because

I just looked at it and I thought oh and I heard oh I look around as my landlady she'd followed me just so she could mock mock me and copy what noises I made and I just thought go away so from the outside because it did change a bit it was I mean it it changed a little bit there was cartoon characters on the outside cartoon characters such as the dandy and I think Beano as well so you had Dennis the menace Corky the cat Dan Dan Dan Dan oh Desperate

Dan and what's her name the girl that was kind of a little bit like I forget her name has got a picture of her holding a not boomerang you know we got two sticks and some plastic one of those things not a swastika oh what are they called you could like chuck stuff at people but like shoot it through a through the rubber anyway so he had that and this is this was for on the on the walls and there's all his neon light in and I thought this is glamorous

but I also thought we're in the middle of nowhere because walking up that road I don't think it's not an exaggeration to say that it was dark and empty there was nothing there literally it was derelict well not empty that whole area used to be mills I think and you know like 40 50 60 years ago 100 years ago whatever and so much of those roads there's quite a few down that way they were just empty they weren't really habitable they weren't really somewhere that you'd walk around at night and

I found that strange especially when I realized how close Liverpool Street was and all of the well at the time this is an early 90s the whole of the business world pretty much like in London the business world in London was a Liverpool Street that's before a lot of it moved to Canary Wharf in the middle 90s the financial world and I think even the newspapers and all that stuff was around the corner I didn't even realize that Fleet Street where the newspapers used to live not the newspapers themselves but

you know the companies they they were Fleet Street it was a very famous street it was literally just around the corner from Liverpool Street didn't even know but then that pretty much went and I think most of the places or a lot of them companies moved to Canary Wharf the actual big building and I just found it strange that such a big especially in the early days like Liverpool Street you know I went there loads of times probably not loads of times but a few times over the years building up

to when I first moved there and my experience of being in London on my own was Liverpool Street Oxford Circus Tottenham Court Road the Central Line that was it and Soho the you know the kind of that area where the um you know the place you can just walk around where the theatres are and I mean I was kind of like 18 whatever I didn't I don't know if I ever really went into the pubs or anything I just used to like walk around and then come home get on a

get on a train because it was a it was a cheap day out it's not anymore but the I was just really surprised that an area so close to one of the most expensive probably bits of real estate in the country which I mentioned those buildings around Liverpool Street were at the time would be just these derelict buildings with no one in them you know part of Hackney kind of area and as I couldn't really get my head around it it seemed so so weird that changed over time but for

years I was walking up that road from Old Street or walking around from Liverpool Street and you could just feel the energy leave so go around the corner see all these buildings all these people you know rushing around waiting for buses going in and out of the huge huge buildings that I never got a chance to go into I wanted to they just looked amazing and then I'd walk to the end so basically turn left out of Liverpool Street station the main entrance the big entrance and then you've got on

the left you've got all those loads and loads and loads of huge buildings there's steps that go up and there's all just like it's massive massive places if you just follow the the road around keep following around staying on that pavement keep going and then it goes from being a really big pavement to a normal kind of size pavement gradually as you go further away it's kind of like the Yellow Brick Road because you ever see like you see the the Yellow Brick Road part where the munchkins are saying follow

the Yellow Brick Road follow the Yellow Brick Road and then the Yellow Brick Road becomes bigger and more brighter and all the flowers as it gets closer to the castle but imagine maybe if that that Yellow Brick Road started a little bit further out maybe start you know and it was in some grimy forest where it was just it wasn't yellow it was just green and brown and maybe there was puddles in it and some potholes you know because no one ever went there it felt like I was leaving the

Yellow Brick Road and going there as I was turning you turn left and at the time there was nothing huge buildings everywhere but nothing going on like the buildings were so high but not I mean there probably was businesses going on but couldn't see anything going on and Shoreditch High Street is tiny it's only a little road it's only a tiny little bit and you go down I mean it's not a big road they call it Shoreditch High Street now but I mean there's there's hotels there multiple hotels it's really

turned into a really trendy area and that started it started probably while I was still in London it started to get trendier and then over the next 10 years on the lead up so I left London in 2001 September and the Olympic Games was in London in 2012 I do believe so during that period parts of London were transformed and Shoreditch is one of those I mean I'd say it was already transformed before the Olympics Shoreditch was but since the Olympics there's like no actually yeah it was already transformed there

was already loads of hotels there so Shoreditch has already kind of transformed but it continued Stratford that part was proper transformed yeah I guess during those years because it yeah those 10 years leading up to the Olympics that's when Stratford and different parts were transformed so Shoreditch was definitely by 2005 it was a really nice area yeah and I started going up there again I still visit quite regularly for quite a while quite a few years even though I'd left and anyway so I'm coming down this alleyway thinking I was

looking at different buildings thinking to myself I hope that's not it and sometimes I see I see a light in a doorway and I think I hope that's not it I'm not going in there and I'd see a couple of people just huddled in a doorway on a corner and I'm thinking I hope that's it oh but luckily none of those were and I got into it and you could see it was the only building in that road that had any lights but Old Street once you get out of that

road and got to Old Street station that whole area was quite light because you had the eye hospital there's a college city universities up there you've got a really busy what is it oh they had a typing school just near Old Street tube station and I don't know if it's still there now probably not I guess but maybe but there was also like a taxi firm there was a chip shop on the corner and you know so there was it was quite busy it was a big roundabout it's quite a

busy area but when I got to the comedy club I thought I like this and there was these red doors big red doors that were open lodged open and then there was some other doors inside that you had to open to get in with glass so they were also red I think but they had like individual panes of glass in them like one two three four five ten ten twelve I don't know so I just opened the you have to pull the door open I think I went in and there

was there wasn't anyone on the door there was some people in there but there wasn't any much of an audience because I was it's quite early because the show started I think the show started at nine maybe half eight so I was there about half seven and I just did not know what to say to anybody so I looked in so basically as I go in I turned if I looked right that's where the seating was and that's where the stage was on the left-hand side so turning up looking just

trying to okay I'll do I'll do a walkthrough so going this is how it was when I first went there but it did change a bit over the years so go in turn right and there'd be some seating and like a walkway down which is where the comedian walked down to get onto the stage but also where people would walk down to get to the tables there was a wooden floor a very old wooden floor and I would so I'd walk down if I was going to go down that way

there'd be seats to the right of me there's also be seats and chairs to the left of me so it wasn't set out with lots of chairs next to each other in rows it was seating and then you could turn right because as you got to the end of the rows where there's seats on the right and seats on the left or tables and seats on either side at the end of the row on the left-hand side is where the stage began there's quite a big stage and probably the height

of the table pretty much I would say yeah about the height of the table ish and then turn right and there's some other chairs and tables going across and it just like filling that area there was a at the back which was directly opposite the stage there was a fire exit again red so you could push that open from the inside and so there was no chair so there was that that gangway was oh you know clear and then there's some other chairs and tables further up at that time there

was a toilet so I think it might have been there was a toilet up that side as well as toilets up near the bar I don't know if one was a women's one was a men's I forget but I think there was that was definitely a I think that's just for people that were seated up there it was easier that eventually got knocked through to make more room but that was there at the time and then more chairs and tables going against that wall you know giving it room for people

to get into the toilet and then down the other side towards the stage so if you kind of like walk around the room so you look back and you can see the stage on the right hand side and a set of chairs and tables there and then directly in front of the stage so let's say if you were walking in the the fire exit from outside and there was two long tables right in front of the stage which held about one two three four five six probably about 12 people maybe

15 people each and so that was kind of the layout of the club there was lights and stuff they were aimed at the stage that were on the walls and PA system all that stuff you know speakers etc I don't normally say etc do I and then there was pictures I'm sure there was pictures inside on the walls as well of more cartoon characters from the dandy and the bino as well on the walls because the walls were all like red and yellow and it was very colorful inside yeah because

things it did change but like there's a few changes happened over the years one was the the extended so I remember when it happened in fact I helped I helped do it and my friend asked me if I'd give him a hand one Sunday to smash the toilet in I thought he's meant we're going to go for a curry but um no he literally meant he wanted me to want wanted to get rid of the toilet so one of the waiters and me turned up on a Sunday and it was

basically like a this toilet was it wasn't it was sturdy but it wasn't a well it just yeah it was quite easy to dismantle so we got rid of it but it had to be sorted out by the Wednesday you see so that's why we're in on Sunday because they were open again on a Wednesday evening so I guess they needed plumbers and stuff to sort that out and so yeah did did that and that made room for about another four tables I think and then later on they what did

they do they made room for more chairs by knocking through knocked through a wall which meant that they could put more chairs down because it didn't because they they were limited because the waiting staff had to walk through around to get to the different tables but once they had that wall that wall which they could walk through they didn't have to so it created more more room for tables and chairs and the limit the maximum amount of people that was allowed in there was 200 um sitting and I think they

they started off about 150 160 and managed to get up to 200 after making changes to the place so yeah it was good but when I first went in there there was forgetting the you know all the audience and the comedy part of it there was a bar to the left so you walk in through the door and straight ahead of you is the toilet or the entrance to the toilet and to the left if you look there was a bar big bar or nice size bar and in front and

there was also a fireplace to the right hand side so kind of in front of the bar between the bar and the the toilet there was a fireplace like a real proper fireplace and it was and it was on because it was January was it a real fireplace or was it just an electric fire the reason I ask that is because now part of me thinks well it doesn't matter if it's if it's if it was or not which is true but then there's that part of me thinking it doesn't

matter if I say it was even if it wasn't but what if I know it wasn't then I'll be lying and I don't want to lie I can't say for certain that it was a real fire yeah I can't say for certain but it was nice and then so there's this fire with a with a mantelpiece to the right there was the entrance to the toilet to the left there was the bar between the mantelpiece and the bar on the left hand side on the wall there was a cigarette machine

the one is old-fashioned I mean it's old-fashioned then and my friend who owned the place he wrote down all the amount of money people would save if they stopped smoking and he actually literally wrote that all down and to try and put people off buying them and then so turn around and you got the bar it was wood all the way along and it kind of curved and went round to the right and there wasn't yeah there wasn't anything like a you know some bar tops they have a lid that

comes down and kind of makes the whole thing just flat and you know it didn't have that there was a gap where people can come and go so that was good um well not for me because I was a customer but at that time I was just I was a unknown quantity so I go in there and in front of the bar and the area between like you know near the fire there was a sofa and some chairs and the comedians were hanging out there and when I went there either

the first time or the second time Joe Brand a really famous female comedian was sitting down on the sofa and I was a bit starstruck because I'd seen her on TV and she is arguably one of the first famous stand-up comedians from the alternative era I mean she was she was a big star long before I even got to London long before people like Lee Evans and Jack Dee and all the ones that kind of seem like they've been around forever she literally has been around forever since like mid-late 80s

and I don't know if I was trying to impress her or not but I said something that upset her and she didn't talk to me again I think she was okay a while later but it took a while she just I think she literally got up and left so I don't know what it was I was probably just trying to be funny or you know wholesome and I don't know what it was oh yeah I urinated in the fire apparently that put her off a dinner no I don't know what

it was it's something I didn't mean to genuinely didn't mean to because I was I guess I was just showing off just trying to fit in you know but I did meet a comedian that we kind of stayed friends his name was uh Wilty or Nick Wilty we all knew him as Wilty and he'd already won a contest like a stand-up talent contest in Canada and had been on TV and everything and then he came here and he was just winning the show because at the comedy club there was uh

they'd have like maybe up to 12 comedians doing five minutes each and then the audience would decide who'd won you know the handout leaflets you know tick which ones you like and and that was it and he pretty much won every time he was on there was there was a few a handful of comedians that were new but were good straight away like you got Nick Wilty and you had Rona Cameron she won straight away Mandy Knight although Mandy Knight was in a double act at the time and Tim Vine

although not straight away but you know it didn't take him long to be come really good I saw him on his first ever gig I think Tim um and then who else was it a bloke called Dickie Duran another one called um Harvey O'Leary so Dickie Duran was from Liverpool and he would win it so it was kind of between those groups of people um Harvey O'Leary would often win it I never won it I did I'm not sure if I got a laugh I think I might have got a

couple of laughs over the years but but I did I made quite good friends with the people that was going along so I was 20 years old at the time or 20 and a bit I mean I was 20 the end of August and I went there started there nearly I suppose near the end of January so yeah just 20 and five months and I remember the the staff just not giving me funny looks but kind of they seemed quite nice but when I first went there it's like there wasn't

a lot of like friendliness but there was from Nick like Wilty and Harvey O'Leary was really fun really friendly Harvey O'Leary uh Dickie Duran was Rona Cameron was Tim Vine all those people they were they were friendly there's a few others I can't remember all the names that came along every now and then every few weeks or every few months someone would come along and they would just be brilliant and it wasn't a fluke they were just really really good and they'd go on you know they'd come in on a

Wednesday they'd win it and the prize for winning a Wednesday contest at the comedy club was you get to do a 10 minute slot paid on the Thursday I think it was the following I don't know if it was the next Thursday or the Thursday like the next day or if it was the following week but that's I think that's what they did and once you get a 10 minute slot and if that goes well quite often back then you maybe get another 10 minute slot and if that goes well

and you get a good reputation then you get a 20 minute slot and it grows over in a few years you kind of it might be headlining so I never quite I never quite got there I did get a few I did get some paid gigs but I didn't get any like short slots not at this particular comedy club I should say just in case my friend Noel phones me up why are you lying again um so I I fell in love with that place oh yeah also next to the

bar so if you turned your if you put your back towards the fire place and sort of like leaned against the bar then a straight ahead was where the kitchen was so that was all blocked off so the kitchen was in there that's where they made the burgers and the different things so and the entrance from the bar and the kitchen was the same entrance so they'd all be you know be sharing that entrance in and out so I got to know the staff because I kept getting I went there

every single Wednesday pretty much for a year near enough maybe two years maybe three years but I was there regularly so and I would get there early before they'd even open the doors so they might open the doors at seven or half seven and I'd be sitting outside so the staff started letting me in because they got used to me they got I knew my name and you know they kind of got used to me being there because I was there every single Wednesday and also you had to be there

fairly early it was first first in first on the list so for people that turned up at eight o'clock half eight chances are they wouldn't get to go on unless they were you know liked I suppose so they'd let me in and I'd sit down I don't know why I just didn't offer to help out I mean I should have got a job in that place in 91 so that's what I would do I know it's like what would you do different one of the things I would do different if

I was able to kind of go back to that time bearing in mind I moved there in 91 and I wanted to be involved in the comedy industry I think I should have really got a job in the comedy industry whether it was and I thought maybe getting a job in the comedy store even if it was just cleaning putting the chairs out you know taking the coats giving out tickets taking the money whatever it would have been a really good in you know I'd have got to know the comedians

I'd have got to know the promoters because other promoters would be coming in watching the comedians so I get to know people and then I could then sort of on my nights off do gigs during the week so maybe you know and then occasionally have weekends off and go and do a gig on the weekend and just build it up like that just start off only doing gigs on Monday to Thursday and there's always always gigs to do back then there was quite a few and but I didn't think about

it I don't know why I mean I'm pretty certain if I'd have said to my friend Noel who owned the club the comedy club not a comedy store but the one he had he'd have given me some work but I never even considered it back in the early 90s I used to help him out a bit like later on but I just he never I never even thought about it the amount of times I was kind of struggling for work or I could have just gone to him and he'd have

helped me out because he was my friend and we always got on well well most of the time I think he used I don't know he got a fair I think he got a bit fed up with me sometimes because I always was there and I didn't seem to be improving and and I think there was a little bit of frustration there which is is fair enough I mean he's running a business but the good thing I'd go there on my nights off my nights off at the weekends that was

my go-to place if I didn't if I wasn't doing a gig sometimes I just go to the comedy comedy club my friend's comedy club and just be there all night watch the cook watch the show hang out at the bar and you know do that and then go home or if I was doing a gig somewhere I quite often end up getting a taxi with another comedian or a bunch of us and go back to the comedy club and hang out there till two o'clock because they had a like a

comedy the comics room upstairs with a pool table tv and like loads of sofas and stuff so that used to be I had a social life had a social life and I used to get I knew some comedians to talk to that were nice to me but probably most of the comedians that I've gone with were the new ones even though maybe I wasn't new anymore you know five years in they were new and I was still unsuccessful but you know some of those ones that started off with me still

stayed friends like Nick Wiltie Tim Vine I used to get on with still and some kind of you know went off and did their thing but yeah Terry Alderton's another one we kind of started off roughly at the same time he got successful he was really successful and what's that's not weird but he what he did is he got shortlisted for the Perrier in 2001 or 2002 something like that and if you win the Perrier award which it's not called the Perrier award anymore but it's the Edinburgh festival comedy award

it used to be called the Perrier award used to be called the Perrier award for years and years and years and years and loads of people have won it including like Lee Evans and Steve Coogan won it with when he was in a double act with John Thompson and the League of Gentlemen I think they won it as well what's his name what's his name I'm not sure if Jack D won it or not I can't remember but there was a lot of people that mean every year someone wins it

and so yeah I didn't it changed it changed the name but Terry because he won he became he was like shortlisted or maybe he was named best newcomer or something like that suddenly the doors opened for him in the entertainment world which should have opened beforehand I mean still he wasn't he still had doors open he's still doing stuff before that I think on telly and that but it is suddenly I don't know something happens when you when you win those prestigious awards or if you're in the spotlight being nominated

TV executives become interested and a lot of people end up with TV shows or going on tour having their own just like just become really become well known so Terry had at one point he was hosting the lottery the national lottery on a Saturday night which is arguably probably one of the biggest TV audiences at the time imagine the lottery I mean probably had about 10 million people watching every Saturday live so that was that was a really really good gig he also did he was in EastEnders for a while

and then he probably did loads of stuff I just didn't really I don't know about but what he did do which I just couldn't believe is he changed up his act and I saw him on stage it was I think it was on YouTube or no it might have been live at the Apollo something like that Terry Alderton let's have a look now he used to be a former professional footballer so he's he's about my age might it might be a little bit younger a little bit older I don't know

exactly he's 55 exactly the same age as me in fact he's a little bit younger because he was born in October he's so in the early 2000s so he was doing acting he was in TV stuff I don't know what he was in right but oh he was in of course he was he was in the final season of London's Burning I forgot about that I was see whenever I see someone that I used to know because I've not seen him for years and I'd see them on telly like playing

a part or whatever I get so excited it's brilliant and oh so and also he was in EastEnders playing Terry Spraggan which was Bianca's boyfriend or husband that was in 2013 now he what was I mean I don't know what his character is so he was nominated for the periodical comedy award in 1999 what was it 1999 so the last time I sort of spent time with him would be 2000 Christmas 2000 I think he was maybe it wasn't 2000 then yeah would have been because the I don't know I'm

pretty sure it was Christmas 2000 because he was headlining the the shows like the Christmas shows he was doing like five nights a week because I remember sitting upstairs eating with him oh well so he if you if you I mean I realize you're probably not gonna be googling at this moment because I'm boring you so boring and I ah so boring I um I couldn't believe I saw him on stage on TV and he had a bald head because last time I saw him he had hair but he he

was playing this character that was I don't know how to explain it other than genius like one of the best things I've ever seen in comedy I mean I'm I'm not seeing so much it was like two people he was moving in between two two different um characters at the same time it was really funny really really funny and I kind of tried to nearly get in touch with him once when in fact I do follow him on Facebook and I thought he might like remember me but I don't think

he does because it's a long time you know it's 20 odd years since I last saw him over 20 years and then Nick Wilty I sent him a message I followed him on Facebook and I sent him a message is it you is it Nick Wilty he said yeah is it the Nick Wilty and he said yeah and I realized he hadn't remembered me so I thought I'd better leave it because they were two of the people I kind of classed as friends in comedy there was others as well but

just I kind of stayed friends with them all the way through when I was doing comedy right through the whole of the 90s really and yeah there's another who's the other person I was thinking of there was a comedian called Jimbo and he's now in his 70s I think he's still doing it he's still doing it and and he used to just stand on stage sometimes he wouldn't say a thing he just like play around with a microphone and like and then not do anything for 10 minutes or five minutes

other times he would just lay down on the stage sometimes he'd go on and just eat a sandwich I just see him so many different times and I used to tape my recordings for a few years I'd take quite a lot recordings of on a little digital recorder and I could hear because I did a lot of gigs with him at the comedy club also other places and I could always hear his laugh because it was it was like that that was in the background I was like okay especially as

it's often the only laugh I was getting so and it's amazing he's still on still doing it he's he's got a YouTube channel and there's clips of him on stage and it's like wow he's I mean he's in his 70s he's got 20 odd years older than me because he was like in his 40s when he was doing it then I mean he might not be 75 but he's in his 70s and I was like wow and he was he was almost like my biggest fan he really liked my act

and I just remember his voice he's weird doesn't his voice wasn't weird but it was always pleased to see me it was always lovely always really nice man I suppose in a way it was quite good times I mean the the Saturday nights I mean I spent actually just thinking about it New Year's Eve apart from the occasional one where I couldn't I spent New Year's Eve at the comedy club in probably 91 92 not 93 because I I stayed because I had a girlfriend then so I stayed with her

I remember walking down a promenade but then Christmasy New Year's Eve sorry 94 94 prop very much likely not 95 because I was with another girlfriend oh yeah so 94 New Year's Eve I remember that very well because yeah there was this lady started talking to me and kind of I don't know she felt sorry for me because I was on my own and on New Year's Eve I mean there was people did come in later on like the comedians and stuff but it was the staff were too busy to

chat so there's no sort of hanging around and having a chat or anything like that which used to happen you know like on a normal night it was a case of getting out of people's way so it probably wasn't the best time to really go there but it was either that or be at home on my own so I went and if I think even now right if that comedy club was local like in this town and I I would go there I would I think I would because the you

know the building the friendships knowing the staff and everything like that I think I'd still with that club if you move that club because it's closed down a long time ago but if it was yeah I'd still be going there I'd still be visiting it now when I could it's the kind of place that I'd want to go to forever it was it was a home it was a place I felt safe I don't know why but I love that place I absolutely loved it and I got to explore more

of it as I got you know got upstairs I helped my friend out in the office helped him out of other things so I kind of got to know the place quite well or very well over like the well it's two decades really because I was going back when I was doing my university degree my friend gave me a little bit of work in the office a couple of days a week so I'd go up there and and during the summer and stuff so and during Christmas building up to Christmas

so that you know go up and help out with the orders on the phone and stuff like that so yeah it was good I mean at one point there was an art gallery at the top of the building so the building was in three parts so is there was a doorway so you go in the front front door turn right and you see a doorway and that led to upstairs so you go in there go upstairs and there was two two two stops you go up one set of stairs then

or you've got the second set of stairs the second set of stairs is I think that's where the office used to be so that's where the office was I think I'm trying I'm losing track a little bit I might be wrong I think it was because my friend lived up there when he first moved and started like bought the club he lived in the actual building for quite a while until he bought his house and yeah there was like a shower room and kitchen area and stuff up there as well

and then the office was in there and there was a fairly big office with one two three three desks maybe four desks and yeah it was quite a big big room but then downstairs there was a I'm trying to get this right there was a comics room downstairs and so in the middle bit rather so the comics room and you could basically it was big big space with a pool table on the left and there was all these sofas chairs and sofas and it was a little bit of storage room

as well for bits and bobs but it was you know it's definitely held quite a few people and that was on one side the other side there was yeah the other side there was it was actually being used by a what do you call them people that deliver stuff on mopeds and stuff delivery people it was that's what it was or was it a taxi firm I think it was delivery firm and so they were in there for quite a few years and then they moved out I think that room

that was being let out by the club so they were making money from that that being let out and then they moved out and that space was and this is in probably 1999 I'd say 98 99 it was converted into a nightclub it was completely ripped out and turned into a nightclub yeah so that was that was cool and then at one point upstairs was moved out and it was an art gallery up there so things have moved around and changed over the time you know over like the that decade

and there was an art gallery in about 90 probably 98 99 time as well so that was all done up because the the bar manager and his wife or girlfriend they were both artists so my friend gave them that space to have their art and to also show other people's art and then they think they moved from there and got another place and stuff so that was good and then he moved the office I think right to the top and extended the nightclub area built some toilets and at one point

I think there was even it was it was transformed into living living area for some some staff I think so I think there's three or four of them living maybe three of them living in there but they all had their own rooms and it was all just all separated and everything like that so so but then that then that went and then it was kind of converted into like an extension to the bar to the to the nightclub so yeah it was constantly under change always something new being done and

I think on top of the building there was a jacuzzi what do you call it like a not a bath jacuzzi there was a jacuzzi on on this on the roof I remember once I was standing on the roof and it was I was with Gina and she was the manager one of the managers and I was helping out this was like oh blimey I don't know but I was helping out for the afternoon and or for the morning in the office and there was maybe that staff shortage or something

and we went onto this onto the the roof to watch the solar eclipse with our little glasses on and everybody was on roofs I didn't even know that those buildings were occupied and it was like it was such a lovely moment and she grabbed me and pushed me and kind of I fell back but then I kind of got back on and I said oh you're getting down so it's so funny the way you pretended to push me off the off the thing she said I didn't pretend you're just too

heavy I misjudged your weight I don't know I think I might have upset her I'm not sure but yeah that was nice I liked how it was a nice memory I want to add something to the story that involved eating ice cream but I don't think that might have happened all I do remember I think is at the same time on Eastenders there was a yeah I think Ian Beale and maybe someone else was at the not Hendrix what's it called those stones Hendrix stones or whatever the stones of you

know where people go and worship the stones and stuff and he was there Ian Beale maybe with his wife and stuff and they were all looking at the sun or the moon well I guess better both of us but at the same time isn't it really with their glasses on and that was the same day so I was at home watching Eastenders thinking oh I did that Stonehenge you see where I get Hendry from though you know Henge Hendry it's a very similar name and Terry Alderton it was so funny

the the act he had like later on see I think he might have took a break from comedy because he was doing tv then he went back and that I don't know how he didn't become what a superstar with that act it was phenomenal I'd say almost perfection as far as comedy goes like visual and the voices the like it was so good so yeah who knows who knows but I'm trying to think I'm trying to think of some memories of the place oh there was another member of staff that

didn't talk well two actually didn't talk to me for a while because I'd upset them then they talked to me again later I think what it was is people would sometimes take me the wrong way and then realize because I was kind of playing a character on stage when I first started doing comedy I was a little bit rude you know and probably well no I say definitely didn't come across very nice on the stage but that wasn't I mean generally it wasn't me but I think sometimes I kept that

character going after getting off and sometimes maybe it was on before I went on but I wasn't really me you know I was generally quite a decent person and I think as I got older the people that I annoyed when I was younger came to realize that actually not all of them but some by some of them came to realize that I'm actually you know fairly decent and they kind of accepted me but then it's quite weird because some people I remember I went there the very last night of closing

of the club and it was kind of strange because and that was what 2000 and it's about 10 years ago maybe eight years ago seven years ago it was quite a long time ago that he closed and there was a couple of people that I used to well one is I used to work with him and he he had curly hair not really relevant to the story but I forget his name but I worked with him in the Elephant and Castle he had a record shop Pete Pete his name was

and I thought he liked me like he took me under his wing a bit he was older I think he was probably in his 30s he wasn't old but he was in his 30s he he had a successful record shop in the shopping centre of Elephant and Castle he specialised in you know rare records as well so it wasn't you know he had a lot going on so he was successful and he seemed to I made him laugh and he seemed to you know he used to come to the club

on a Wednesday night and I think really he was always just laughing at me I don't think he was ever laughing with me or it was just I don't know it was weird because he employed me for a while and that was that period was probably one of the happiest periods I had in London because suddenly I was you know I was outside because I worked I was selling tapes outside on us because it was a market store outside Elephant Castle Elephant what's the name of it around the Elephant Castle

the Elephant and Castle sorry it's the Elephant and Castle isn't it so outside there there's market well there was market stalls so I had a table and I was selling tapes that he wanted to get rid of and it was only for about a month three weeks four weeks whatever leading up to Christmas I met or maybe a week or two after and I honestly one of my happiest happiest memories that was because I was going there was it was always cheap to get anywhere in London back then the the

tube prices for the day really cheap it was like a couple of quid and and so I'd go to there I couldn't even tell you how to get to Elephant and Castle now but yeah that's a whole story in itself actually that's that's a whole Monday's Boring Objects of its own the Elephant and Castle period but I enjoyed it I was getting attention from some females that were local who would show me just being nice to me that was nice I got on really well with a member of staff that

he had in his shop he used to go drinking in the pub the Charlie Chaplin pub next door to the shopping centre it was really it was cool and above the Charlie and in the Charlie Chaplin pub my friend Peter or Pete started a comedy club Charlie Chaplin comedy club and I felt like we were starting it together but he was it was his I just was helping out so we did that together for a few weeks and we'd go out handing out leaflets outside the tube stations and stuff and

we did get an audience and then yeah I'm not quite sure what happened it just he he didn't want to pay me anymore and so I kind of moved on but he never seemed to be able to move on from me being 20 years old or 21 years old he he kind of thought like I was always that age and even when I'd see him in the late 90s when I was like 30 or nearly 30 years old he'd still come into the club because he had his own club so

ho ho comedy club and at this time he took it over and he might still have it I don't know but I hope so but he just there was it was weird because even when I'd see him he'd just be kind of seemed to be laughing at me instead of just I don't know I'd go there and see him and I just classed him as a friend but and then when he'd go to the comedy club that I'd go to regularly he'd again the same it'd just be seemed to be

like making fun of me and there was another bloke Jerry and I used to give him lifts home from the club and I'd walk home with him I knew him for years and years and years and I saw there was an interaction on Facebook and this was like 2000 and 2008-2009 and they were talking about me and they were making fun of me becoming a counsellor now you know I can understand why in a bit because for all I perhaps he wouldn't have looked at me when I was 21 and

thought yeah I'm gonna I want to share my share my thoughts with him and me he'd be able to help probably not maybe not even in my 20s but you know at this point I was 38 I wasn't that 20 year old that he'd known from the 1991 and they were just making fun of me like oh I feel sorry for the his clients can't believe he shouldn't be allowed to do that and I thought oh that's a bit bit off and then I see them both at the closing of

the club and this was probably nine years ago now eight nine years ago and my friend invited me because he knew I loved that place so I kind of went there and I think I stayed at his house that night I'm not sure so we were there and a couple of members of staff loads of comedians were there because they were getting I think it was a free bar basically so lots of comedians some said hello to me some didn't but I saw them two the Pete and what's his name

and I was standing on the other side and they were looking over and just laughing and I was standing there with my friend who owned the place and I was like I wanted to go over and say hello to them because I'd never had a bad word to say to them ever really not really I mean not really I did yeah I did fall out of one of them once but I can't remember that was over oh yeah I stole his car I actually one of them he remembers he actually

came up to me once and he said to me is it true that you used to date Laura I don't know if her name was Laura I said why so is this this this lady that I used to date and she was a comedian so he'd met her like a few years later and someone had told her she said she hadn't been with me and but someone told him that she had a little bit gossipy isn't it and he asked me he said did you did you have any communication with

her I can't remember what I said I think I said mind your own business I think is what I said I said just ask her if you don't trust her why are you with her apparently she was telling him no and it was a little fib fib I think maybe she thought I was that I was not around not realizing that we still saw each other like you know late 90s early 2000s still see him he'd come around nearly every Saturday night I'd see him and would go home like well

not every night but if he was there on a Saturday or Friday I'd give him a lift home I thought why he didn't come over and say hello to me nothing and by this time I'm in my early 40s at the time so I'm like 45 probably so you think like 25 years after they'd first met me I'm gonna be a different person you know not gonna be the same not the same and maybe a little bit like the same but not quite the same I do I'd really I remember

he got because my friend has Tourette's and he employed a friend of his that had Tourette's to do the painting and it just even back then because I'd I had upset my friend when I first met him because I was making jokes about Tourette's I just seen a documentary and I was just being very rude about it it's a long time ago and I was uneducated about it at the time but then I got to know him and he he's explained it to me like in great detail and I've known

him for well since 91 so how many years is that and he's been a good friend to me my friend so but he had this painter because I was I offered to do the painting and he said no you're gonna I'm worried because he's got these cartoon characters and he said if you go through the outline it could just ruin the whole character and I don't want to have to redo the characters we're just trying to clean off the wall because there's a lot of traffic and stuff so just clean

it off and just redo the outline only and maybe fill in bits that need it and I said I can do that he said no I've got someone to do it so he introduced me to this bloke took me into the warehouse introduced me to Fred or whatever his name was and every time he spoke his hand shook like he's like um unlike he was doing a magic trick or something I'm not I'm not doing it in a mocking way but I'm thinking how can he be your painter well when

he painted his hands were as steady as a surgeon phenomenal like um like my friend he's when he dances no tics nothing he relaxes by dancing when he's on stage when he sings no tics has hardly anything when he's on stage doing comedy or anything like that but dancing takes it away completely gone so with this bloke Fred I don't know if his name was Fred but it seems like a good name he he the intricate painting calmed him down completely it almost goes against logic but then it's not a

logical condition is it well it's not much for you there's not much in life that is logical I think as I get older but yeah there was a time when I just seemed to upset everyone when I first met them I'd upset them I just seem to I seem to be able to not purposefully but I managed to say the wrong thing and then either they didn't get to see me again so they didn't find out that I'm actually fairly decent person or not depending you know or they'd they'd see

me over time and realized oh okay he's all right he's young or well no one knew that I had bipolar so including me so I would say the wrong thing sometimes and I'd go in and out of moods and just almost not really feeling controlled but and not know why but when people got to know me they seemed to like me even in the call center and in insurance a couple of people really didn't like me for just straight away and then a few months later they were like my best

friend very strange I think maybe I don't fit the criteria I don't fit the the mold of what is expected maybe physically or verbally or emotionally I don't know maybe I'm not a good example of a man a man I don't know really I don't know so yeah that's it um that place loved that comedy club absolutely loved it even when I left in 2001 so I left London I mean in 2001 I still would visit the comedy club but it's like anything you know kind of I'd visit regularly I'd

be there every weekend I could and then gradually you know when I had weekends off from work and I just wanted a rest and it became less and less often it became you know instead of like a couple of times a month it became every maybe once every two months and maybe a few times a year it's yeah just the way it worked until I mean what they did near the end I say near the end basically from my understanding I don't understand particularly exactly but they I think my friend

sold half of his club to someone else who was doing other stuff in the club as well and he moved the comedy part upstairs to where the I don't know to be honest did he move it to did he move it upstairs I think he might have moved it where the to where the nightclub was I'm not 100% sure to be honest but he moved it anyway maybe he moved it to the other side so he moved the comedy club and part and downstairs was a bar and other stuff and

and then eventually so I stopped going then because it wasn't the same I went down there once and it was like okay the comedy's upstairs but this just isn't no it was a comedy downstairs it was just in one section I'm losing track but it wasn't the same it wasn't supposed to be the same and it was all rows of chairs wasn't tables anymore so they still fitted a decent amount in but it just wasn't yeah it was a bar there but the other the other part was come kind of

different kind of bar and it's it wasn't the same and no one would agree I don't think anyone would disagree with that it wasn't the same as it used to be but there was a reason for it it had to be done to keep the place alive keep place going so change is you know it's inevitable isn't it but it just yeah it wasn't for me anymore I just really I was saddened seeing it change and then going because I love that I just absolutely love that place that building you

know going back to the early days all the way through the 90s my favorite building ever it's my favorite building I love the place it's just every every part of it just the kitchen the bar the the stage the toilets you did this upstairs the the bar upstairs or the the toilets upstairs or the the office the skylight oh this was weird right I was there one day and I was helping out and I don't even know I was helping out I was just on the roof because my friend said

can you just tell what's his name upstairs give him a message for me so I walked up up the stairs onto the roof just to let him know now he was in the process of putting stuff up there um I think it might just be someone was on the phone or uh something like that something minimal couple his coffee was ready or something so I'm walking towards him saying Steve and and he said stop so I stopped I said well he said slowly walk back so I was walking across glass

that wasn't supposed to be walked on and there was probably I'm trying to think 6 12 24 probably 30 30 to 40 foot drop and I said to him why what's wrong he said well that glass is thick but it's not supposed to be walked on it's it's you know it's just there to stop rain from getting in it's not not supposed to be it's not a walkie on one and I said okay he said what did you want I said well doesn't matter now he said what do you mean

doesn't matter now I said well I'm focusing on this glass getting off this glass well can you tell me what why you came out you calling me I said can I focus on getting off this glass first please because if I go through the glass you won't be worrying about what I was you know that won't be your concern will it about what I came out to tell you and I can't believe what he said next he said it would be the top of my list because I wouldn't be able

to get the answer from you would I I said that's so rude he said you're rude I said but could you let me just slowly back off and get away from this glass and then I can tell you what the message was and then I backed off and eventually okay he guided me back I said yeah just just slowly try and stay on the lines because that was where the the the support was and I get off and he said okay right so what was the what was the the message

okay all right so the message from Noel was can you make sure when you're up here can you put a sign up to say to let people know to not walk on that glass he got the up with me he didn't talk to me for about a week I don't know why it's like well I told you the message and he said do you not understand what what did you not get it I said what do you mean he said all that fuss you don't do you not realize what you've

done I said I've done nothing I've passed you the message on I said oh I think I understand what you mean now he said good I said yeah you wanted me to actually write the sign and bring it up he said yeah that that's it that's it yeah that's what I wanted you to write the sign wow wow that is absolutely fun wow which I thought was a bit rude or a compliment I'm not sure it's hard to know sometimes you know when you get a wow but sometimes it feels

like it's too much of a wow too I don't know if it's the right word but too wowey too wowey I don't know I'm not sure what I miss most about that place I kind of think that I kind of feel that it was my youth my youth my younger years my I was definitely my 20s so that's the thing that marks out my 20s in some ways more than anything else that comedy club I mean even when I because I took breaks from even performing comedy and even when I

stopped performing comedy altogether I still went to the comedy club because I love the place it just meant something and I think it closed down as I said it's about should I have a look to see because it probably has it on the internet London it might not even have it on there now now it's gone right it's not for some reason Sirius and the comedy store comedy show it's really weird because it was around for so long so long oh yep so I just found a video here from 2015

2015 um yeah so it was still around then so maybe it was 2016 what so it says here there's a there's a trip advisor for that place 2026 all you should need to know before you visit that's weird they haven't opened it up again have they it's a popular comedy club with a weekly open mic night okay okay hours this location was reported permanently closed you'd think there's something like trip advisor would be yeah up to date I mean why even advertise it if it's not there you know I mean

maybe I'm just being a grumpy old oh so have a look is it's London sorry something went wrong that is one of London's and the UK's best loved and longest standing comedy club based in the heart of the east end so this was now operating as the big belly comedy club really that doesn't sound uh correct let's go to the website see if the website's still running it's now clicking going to the big belly comedy club big belly comedy club monday nights tuesday wednesday thursday what the big belly south bank

I'm not sure about this this is weird ring in 2026 the big belly way massive tunes zero pretense and tickets that won't rinse your wallet tickets under 20 pound because spending your rent on new year's eve is so last year all right this is um new year's eve ah open mic comedy in London ding dong gong show ding dong ding ding ding dong gong show every sunday fresh comedians compete to make the audience laugh for five minutes straight experience um the thrill of interactive comedy where you the audience hold the

reins of control with our unique dong of power system you have the power to cast judgment on the acts we choose three lucky audience members to weld wield these powerful dongs if a comedian isn't tickling your funny bone simply raise the dong of power upon the sight of three raised dongs the act must gracefully exit the stage this immersive lively event mirrors the format of Britain's Got Talent swapping buzzers and Simon Cowell's for our one-of-a-kind dongs become a part of this engaging hilarious experience today okay okay so is this all

in one place bottomless brunch comedy in London every Saturday bottomless 90 minutes bottomless booze and pizza every Saturday what what does that mean i'm gonna have to i don't know what that means bottomless i know bottomless i mean 90 minute bottomless booze plus pizza from just 29 pound every Saturday and Sunday a 90 minute free bar with London's best range of bottomless drinks what is a bottomless drink um i don't know what that means ding dong gong show plus bottomless brunch comedy get tickets so Saturday 28th of March it's not

saying who's on you can also upgrade ding ding ding dong gong show and bottomless brunch come so i wonder i mean maybe my maybe the domain name that my friend had he just was given up and someone saw the opportunity to take that and have changed it and diverted it to another place because that that website was used for a long long time i had a loyal following so people would be i mean it's a good way to launch a new comedy club i suppose i'm not saying that's what they

did but that is what they did no i don't know my friend might have sold them the domain my friend might be involved in this i don't know it's possible venue hire inquire to hire or put on a show at big belly podcast recording live audience so who would visit me who would come and listen to my podcast if i did a live audience recording of my podcast how many people would turn up to london in the south bank anyone it would be interesting to do a like a a meet

and greet q a thing where i could just get an audience you could just ask me a question and i could answer the question but live in person ah so that's the ding dong comedy club ding dong gong show so about the normal show so if i go to big belly go back to there the best comedy at the best i must visit for comedy fact it's going too fast right monday night this is monday the 16th right so we've missed that so what was on today tevin everett james mill

gam blank peng hemon mcgunner and luke chilton so tuesday night comedy show free slot with ticket again i'm not sure what that means eric mccallroy eric mccallroy he's quite well done isn't he milo edwards thor stengborn borg and ibs sessay and wednesday we got kate martin patrick spicer phoebe taylor bobby mare acts to be announced so that's wednesday thursday lucas jones hoe ben pope and acts to be announced so they're not open at the weekends then it's just monday to thursday i say just i mean that is pretty good four

days but most comedy clubs oh they are so 19th okay so they've got other things going they've got a secret headliner show oh right it's a friday david anthony suzy pierce prince abdi so that's the only person i know so far from these names prince abdi he's been around quite a while and then on friday the 20th it's saying south bank then this one's saying south bank so they're doing two shows in an evening one is at seven and the next one is at 8 30. they're really yeah they're going

for it aren't they prince abdi again david anthony so basically doing two shows one after another which and now we've got saturday let's have a look what's on saturday again they're doing one at six o'clock and one at 8 30 mark cram javier javier jarquin shalaka corrupt acts to be announced and saturday 21st at 8 30 mark cram shalaka caroop car up and to be announced and then they've got one sunday 22nd of march it's not even saying what it is silly sillier goose sillier goose let me click on that

see what comes up doors open 6 p.m london sellout comedy night is about to get sillier bigger venue even better lineups and much much more honks we're also looking for south walks silliest goose we know everyone does things that are a bit silly sometimes and we want to hear them so come down to hear some of the silliest stories that have been submitted to us get ready for some raw raw racy saucy scandals funny first dates and office outages headliner fatiha el gory and supporting sam nicaresti edinburgh best comedy show

award 2025 and sydney may commie comedia commedia not commedia new comedy and lgbtq plus new comedian and more tbc it's much easier to read it out than to remember some of these words and stuff what's on it's a valentine's day it's valentine's been and gone i think it has in there yeah i remember i used to say i remember saying you know letting everyone know yeah i've not had a valentine's card for a while and thinking that maybe i'd you know receive a valentine's card but nope the hint did not

work no no no no we are literally apart from one person i don't remember i don't recognize any of these acts and they're all probably headlining acts really successful and i just wonder what happens to all the other people where do they go where do the older comedians go do they i don't know anyone i don't know so i'm wondering if the comedy store let's say let's click on the comedy store website let's see what's on a serious night out since 1979 watch out for right tuesday this week monday victor

past garan in london i don't know him best cape cane brown wednesday i don't know him best stand up thursday with with who i don't know you're not telling me who they are there's pictures find out more right mc matt skellingworth marcus birdman felicity ward dave fulton i've heard of dave fulton so let's go back to saturday no that's thursday friday mc ben norris yep no ben norris well i i see i used to see him a lot on used to be always on stage um matt bragg matt stellingworth felicity

ward marcus birdman so ben norris i remember i've seen he's still around that's good and then got saturday mc which is the m the i was going to say umpire the mc i wonder what mc stands for it's like the announcer andrew ryan matt bragg matt stellingworth and felicity ward i guarantee they're all brilliant i just don't know any of them this is bad i'm so out of date so out of touch i think i've just seen i've seen someone that looks familiar to me paul thorn paul thorn i think

i've seen him before paul tonkinson that's paul tonkinson i used to know him he's been that's another one you know i was talking about comedians who would just turn up on a wednesday night the new act night and they were new but they just win straight away paul tonkinson was one of those and i think he was shortlisted for the perrier award as well in about 92 93 time he worked on the big breakfast for a bit he hosted that for a while um i'm trying to look at the images

but i can't see because they're too small for me to see who's who but there's someone with a big gray beard so it might be someone i've heard of before that used paul cinder cinna and nabil ab abdul rashid so nabil he was um i think i had lunch with him once i think there was that night when the comedy club closed him so my friend who's a big fan of his that's quite a good website actually history history in the beginning in may 1979 don ward founded founder ceo and

executive producer opened the comedy store in the old gargoyle nightclub in dean street soho he'd been inspired by a trip the previous previous year to see the new comedy clubs in new york in la they were producing observational comedy and poking fun at the political scene and the establishment this was so refreshing and stimulating his aim and dream was to recreate the same in london as an ex-comedian and now a producer owner he wanted to present something different in his venue and complete and a complete evening of alternative comedy seemed

ideal and yeah i performed at the comedy store once as a like a new act just as a try out open spot and yeah it's even got the planning order for saturday 19th of may 1979 alex alexis sales a compare let's look at the people i don't recognize any of the names alexa sal bob painting arnold brown yeah arnold brown so he was one of the first right no i don't recognize any of the other names the plan was to keep the night running as it was monday further his initial

problem and there would be many was where's the new comedians were going to come from so adverts were placed in various publications the stage evening standard evening news and different places and the the advert was saying are you trapped in a boring nine-to-five job where you are a very funny person who wants to become a comedy star if your answer is yes to that question then contact us the comedy store in soho right there's a spelling mistake there but the comedy store in soho and become part of the oh no

it's not it contact us the comedy store in soho and become part of the comedy revolution if you have the talent we will help you become a comedy star auditions were held and 150 people showed up yes 150 people the first person in the queue was alexis sale who presented as angry at odds with everything of authority if it didn't make sense and wonderfully against maggie thatcher he became the host for the shows for the first three years and blimey then they had the gong show so you had to always

got a picture of um wow wow jennifer's french and saunders oh this looks so young i mean they were young but blimey so jennifer saunders thought um your heads rick mel and adrian evanson nigel planer keith allen alexis sale hosting it's um it would have been so amazing to see that back then just phenomenal imagine being a the kind of the launch of something new you know i mean be amazing be so cool just to be like i suppose it is a similar thing if you i mean in a way

i was around at the beginning but i wasn't if that makes sense so this started 1979 at a comedy store but all the different comedy clubs didn't really burst up until the 90s so i was involved in comedy in london in probably the second golden age i mean you say the golden age i wasn't okay not in the birth i wasn't there in the birth but was there in the growing up the toddler stage or the maturing stage i don't know because in the 70s it was in the like 1979

and through the 80s there was a lot of comedians that were on tv and that were there but the there's also that degree of anarchy and slapstick stuff and that rick male would be involved in and they all became stars in the 80s jennifer saunders nigel planer the young ones black adder and i suppose in the 90s like in the late 80s really other than there's only a handful of comedians that were on telly regularly like phil call had his own tv show in the 80s joe brand trying to think

of some others that were like regularly doing gigs on tv ben elton of course ben elton yeah so anyone that was around with ben elton back then the saturday night live or friday night live with jonathan ross so there was different comedians that would come along and be on there the management so you had the french and saunders it is a few but then like in the 90s those people that had grown up watching that stuff in the 80s realized perhaps that they wanted to do comedy because they'd grown up

in the 70s maybe watching some of the comedy which was about mother-in-laws and maybe it was a bit rude and stuff although i liked i liked any comedy i didn't care if it made me laugh it made me laugh but the 90s so i'd say the seed was planted the seeds were planted the comedy store planted the seeds and grew it to be a small plant and grew it so it was a precious plant and then and then started allowing other people giving a little branch away to other people over

that little tree or that plant and out of that plant grew other comedy clubs and other comedians decided to give it a go and yeah and it grew into this huge thing during the 90s in england we're in london and then it spread i mean it's always been comedy's been big around the country like up north and that but the kind of alternative well that's not alternative anymore is it but that style of comedy was starting to really grow during the 90s with clubs like jonglers and yeah jonglers wow they

had quite a few different places around the country i think i think they still do so it was kind of it grew i'd heard about a comedy store before i went to london and i remember going there and i'll be honest it's the only comedy club that i was excited to be in outside of the first one i went to the one that i loved but that was because i'd never been in a comedy club before but going out on the night out i went to leicester square where the comedy

store is or at least it used to be queuing outside and i think the the headline had got changed so they changed it in front of everyone and they changed it to jack d i don't know who it's supposed to be and i didn't even know who jack d was so i was pretty early in my time being involved in comedy and it's such a great night it was brilliant loved it and then i went back a few more times i followed when dennis leary came to london i followed him

around quite a few different comedy clubs because he was so funny and i went to the comedy i went to the comedy store when i performed myself doing them the um this the live you know there was it five minute open spot i got a few laughs but yeah not huge amounts and then but i got to perform there and i got to go backstage and be with the other comedians in the most famous comedy club in the country well in london anyway so and then i went there to see

i kind of made friends and well got friendly with mark thomas and he gave me his number so i called him up one time and said can i come and see you at the comedy store because you're there on saturday if they can you put me on the door and he did so i went and watched him and went backstage just say hello and just say thank you so that was cool as well and i got a really good seat so that was just i don't know how i became friends

i mean we didn't went like buddy buddies going out and stuff but i just i think out of all the comedians that i met there was a period when he was i wanted to be like him mark thomas was um and i'd still say yeah but there's stuart lee and mark thomas were the two kind of comedians i'd want to be like i don't know what it was i mean stuart lee i just he's my favorite comedian but mark thomas there was that passion that complete it's almost like it was

him wasn't putting on an act he was just being himself and he was talking about stuff he really knew about because he was um topical like really topical i just thought he was so amazing i remember he turned up at a i think it's a charity gig on a sunday and he just turned up in his shorts t-shirt he'd been out of his family no preparation just chatting they called him on his when i stage and did his act no nerves nothing he was just so cool such a cool geezer

really um yeah i was yeah for quite a while he was like my comedy hero which if you'd have seen my act at the time you wouldn't believe because couldn't be more different so i don't know what happened to that building now the comedy club that i used to go to i don't know what it is now i think it's just gone it's still there but there's probably a night club or something so yeah so that's me i'm finished for this recording so thank you for listening remember to be kind to yourself because you do deserve to be happy be gentle with yourself you deserve to feel safe lots of love bye