22nd August.

A short round up this week, as I (Pete) was compere and I had too much to worry about without taking photos and watching the other acts. I think I scraped by, but I don't yet have the compere skills that Callum has developed over the past year. I should probably stick to weird acts as the prince/beck inspired song 'ladies, ladies, ladies.' was propbably the best thing I did- and much more successful than my attempts to banter with the crowd. For the record we had on Tom Lyons, Tom Mitchell and Lewis Burgess and they were all great, but I can't remember what any of them said. Steffen Peddie was our headliner, another comic getting ready for his hour long show during October's comedy festival, on our very own stage.

This weeks comp was definitions again, and the winner was El Gibsteroni, who came up with 'plush- the noise a posh toilet makes.'

If anyone can remember anymore, leave a comment!

No photos this week, but the selection of old pics includes -me onstage somewhere else; From last week Regan who won the comp. amd headliner Scott Tyrell with his text messages; and one of our fans waiting for his pint.

15th August

Some of this week's performers - (sorry you're not all in -we can only have 5 pics) Phil Buckley. Don Barr. Pedro Stonehouse. Claire Morgan aka Domain Jane and mother. Scott Tyrel.

Another great night! We must have been missed in the two weeks when we were gone, because -by heck- there was a big crowd tonight. Sorry for those standing at the back - we'll try to find some more chairs if we can.

Callum took over all the hosting duties tonight, and as he'd been in Edinburgh checking out the festival, he gave us his impressions of Scotland. Including how their big issue sellers are still fairly obviously drunk, and the impressive levels of threats 'I'll fckn melt yer, yer basser!'

Our own Al Dawes was on first with a set of greatest hits, preparing for an Edinburgh appearance himself in the ' So You Think You're Funny?' competition. Good stuff and good luck!

Next was Pedro Stonehouse. An energetic comic who blagged his way on an already full bill with tales of his many appearances in America. But after desperately lying his way on stage, he changed his mind and with a minute to spare told us he didn't want to do it. 'Too late' declared Al - and Pedro was forced onstage, to not a bad reaction. He got by on his furious energy and the comic value of a plastic sword that made its own sound effects.

Keith -was called 'Flint' in our advert, but apologies to anyone who was expecting the guy from the prodigy - the name was a mistake, we know not from whence it came about. Another first time performer who almost bottled it, but rallied and made a resepectable first performance.

Claire Morgan gave us one of her many comic characters - two actually as we finally got our first ventriloquist act. Stories of trying to stay sane when you live with your mother in New York's finest fish and chip shop. (New York -Noth Sheilds that is.) You lucky punters saw this for the last time before it hit the edinburgh festival.

Don Barr gave a fine performance, explaining how an hum-drum day can be transformed by judicious use of the words 'little did he know.' He also complained about those who make the sign of the cross before they run onto the football pitch - it's just wasting God's time.

The audience comp this week was 'Fisherman's Song Book' entries included- 'the dace of spades' and 'Sitting on Haddock at the bay.' The winner was Regan, a young man so photogenic and 'with it' that Callum had earlier mistaken him for one of the monochrome pop-star prints that now surround the room.

Phil Buckley gave us a great set including a twist on the old chat up line 'Your father must have been a thief - because you look like a pikey.'

Scott Tyrel gave a wonderful finale to the night. Scott's recently returned to the North East so he's a newcomer at LLC, but he's an accomplished performer with a style reminiscent of Eddie Izzard (When he was still good). He pondered why kids feel the need to put on a bad American accent when playing with action figures, and if American kids do the opposite - 'I say Chewbacca, care for a spot of tea?' He finished on a delightful poem about the perils of trying to continue a lovelife with young children in the house.

A night to remember all in all. Hopefully we have turned the corner and it will be full every week, but please god, not fullER - we need some breathing space.

25th July

WHAT A SHOW!!

You must realise I only say this because Pete (one of our number) wasn't there. But it was a cracker.

Callum Cramb took the opportunity to compére the whole night, and warmed a lovely crowd into a great one.

Opening the night was a fat lad called Al Dawes, who ran over time, offended the weak, and talked at great length about drunkeness and karaoke. He loves to work the most obvious material. The word esoteric isn't in his vocabulary. He could never spell it.

Next was Gina Savage. Despite being introduced as Gina Davis, she had a beautiful dry wit with some very clever punchlines. Hopefully more of her in the future.

Nolbert Stump. If you haven't seen him, you are weaker because of it. A fine performance from a bloomin' lunatic who seems to love the taste of shaving foam. Think Charlie Chuck, but even more northern, and including the word 'clarts'. You will not see an act like that in jonglers, which is exactly why you shouldn't go.

James Christopher decided to ditch his entire set, and strike out in new ground. He may have been heckled by a scouser, but he was awash with new - and funny - material, mostly out of the top drawer, but some of it from a wardrobe.

Matt Seber got all political on our ass. There was confusion, then laughter, then some clapping, and some excellent prescott baiting. A breath of fresh air from a guy who knew what he was doing, and did it.

Finally, Kate Fox reprised her performance from last time, and furthered my opinion of internet dating - if those guys get it, surely I can - girly, funny, and very, very lovely.

Hell of a night. In years to come, you will pretend to your mates you were there.

11TH OF JULY.

From this weeks show - Scott Mccloud, 70's comic Les Bastard, Les Paul Marshall, Steffen Peddie - For pics of the other performers have a look at the reviews of other shows - everyone's on the site somewhere.


This weeks show was another quiet one - come on people! But this is the quiet season for comedy, if we can survive through this then we should be nicely full when the weather turns in September. (This is what we keep telling ourselves.) Anyway, still a good gig for those that did come, the audience was thin but the stage was packed.

Al started us off, talking of 'celebrity' love island - which has actually dropped the first word because there's no one in it that anyone's heard of. Al speculated that he is probably already too famous to get on the show.

Scott McCloud has only done a handful of gigs but already has a great, inventive set. He discussed the new BBC show 'Only fools on Horses' and suggested this may be the start of a trend for turning old comedies into new game shows. How about 'Blackadder' he mused, 'Where Carol Vordeman puts on make-up and experiences life as a maths genius and an ethnic minority.'

Callum told us of the time he met Prince Charles, asked him what he thought of 'Spitting Image' and got a bollocking from his teacher for his cheek. Happy days! Then he announced;

Steffen Peddie. Steff was not a happy bunny, but comedy legend that he is, he managed to milk his 'why did I bother coming tonight?' mood and was the highlight of tonight's show. (Even if he did speculate at one point that we might have all died and gone to hell.) Until you've seen Steff singing 'Your beautiful' as Elmer Fudd, you haven't lived.

Les Paul Marshall, was on at the first LLC, and he was back tonight, amusing and disgusting in equal measure - well comic songs about menstruation and pedophilia aren't everyone's cup of tea.

As the show neared it's end came competition time! This week it was favorite mother in law jokes, and to read them out we had Yorkshires top comic (1978) Les Bastard (Pete with a cushion up his shirt.) Al was on the drums providing the BADUM TISH! After every punchline. My favorite of the night: I wouldn't say my mother in law's fat, but she sat on a rainbow and Skittles came out.

Finally a stellar double bill of Sarah Millican and John Scott, both trying out new material and wowing the 'crowd' with classic material too. John's back for the next two weeks, so catch him again as he perfects material for his hour long show later in the year.

13th June.

Despite Brazil playing football we still had a decent turn out to our little club. If we're surviving now then it will be wall to wall come November when it's cold outside and there's nothing to watch.

Callum got things going with some old skool material about tough Byker pubs. 'I wouldn't say it was tough, but the first question in the quiz was 'Did you spill my pint?'

Then keeping it old skool was our first act -Nolbert Stump, who would have been at home in a Victorian freak show. Think Marty Feldman, Charlie Chuck, and Les Dawson. Nolbert's had a hard life, and has the face to prove it. 'When I was born me mother wanted money. What for? I asked -nine month's rent.' Great acting too, if you don't watch him when he takes the wig off, you won't be able to pick him out of the crowd. Check out

Nolbert's own site:

Cal Returned with some biting political satire - and believe me it bites. (Cal asked me to say that, honest.) And introduced;

John Scott, back to try out new stuff and entertain us with his impressive back catalogue -though the new stuff is generally so good you can't tell the difference. John's still enjoying the football, despite the fact Scotland's not involved. 'We actually sing, -we're shit and we know we are! England fans should sing -we're average, but we can't accept it.'

Pete (Me-I'll stop pretending some journalist writes this) had a few comments on 'designer' sunglasses and the new mannequins in Evans- which finally resemble the people who actually shop there. Sorry- I wasn't quite up to scratch this week - next time I'll add some jokes to the general ramblings.

Last up was another brave soul making the trip from Manchester, Damian Larkin. I have to admit, I'm writing this a week after the gig, and as my notepad ended up on the other side of the room, I have nothing jotted down on Damian. Still a quick google and the BBC Tees site said..

"Damian Larkin filled the gap between the two beer breaks of the evening with a quick burst of one-liner gags which were well delivered and generated a lot of laughter."

...and I'm not going to argue with that. Damian's yet another comic who's too good to be seen for £2 in our little club. Get down here next time, you don't know what you're missing.

And nice brown leather sofas. Coo!

30TH OF MAY.

This weeks guests - The Flash, James Christopher, John Scott and Tom Mitchel.



So last night was a lot of fun. A success if not a roaring one. Our little comedy club is a very friendly place, and given that we were fighting against a bank holiday hangover, and England playing football it wasn't badly attended. Unsurprisingly, when the football ended, a few more people turned up.

Callum looked after the first section, including material on dance floor do's and don'ts which set up this week's competition.
He introduced Tom Mitchell, a very cerebral guy, with some great imagery to hand. His admiration for pornographers seems very genuine. Finishing the first section was a return of Doctor Who lookilikey James Christopher; who's speccy trekky act is becoming less of a crutch, he is doing more material as himself, which is genuinely funny. Got the moment of the night when he got a big groan. 'oh so puns don't work in the 'dog and parrot'. Yes, it was a location gag, you did have to be there, but of its moment, it was cheer worthily good.

Al introduced himself and did stuff on moving to the north, and struggling with the accent etc. Strangely enough he had mothballed it because he thought it was too geordie, and wouldn't travel. But it certainly works here. A heckle from Callum pointing out that Al's a cheesemaker, not an engineer, brought forth a cheesy take on Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

The other act in this section was comedy magician THE FLASH; cracking stuff. He has a really good polished act now, with gags and some really fun tricks. The audience mind reading bit is so good, and made by the fact that the stooge seldom gets it.

Pete looked after the last section, going over his notebooks for new stuff - this gave us some great quick ones, including beautifying wind farms by including models of two guys choping wood on them, and some longer bits which need a bit more of a polish. The competition took the form of 'you name a dance step, we will act it out' Callum's idea, and it worked really, really well. The winner was the classic dad dance which came with very clear instructions - crouch; lift one leg and twist; repeat with other leg; both thumbs up throughout. The lucky winner recieved a bottle of sanatogen tonic wine (we shit you not.) which comes with the warning that 'tonic' in no way implies health giving properties.

John Scott, fresh from playing rooms with 200 people for actual money, still came down to mix with the likes of us. He was exercising his new idea about sitting down to perform. It was a really interesting change, it took the energy out of the set, but it made everything warm and friendly and fuzzy.

16th May - Long Live Comedy

At this fortnight's Long Live Comedy, we were joined by 5 of the good people of manchester, and about 30 paying punters. It was a lot of fun.

Opening the night was Viscount Al Rosser, Fashionista - Al Dawes in a cravat. A bit of a strange way to start a night, but you have to let him have his fun.

Other than that rather abortive attempt at a character, we had:

Chris Tavener, who boldly took on the opening slot, some nice conversational material, which set the tone somewhat for a pleasant evening.

Following him was the recent competition winner Christian Steel. Great material mix between tried and tested, and brand spanking new. His stage presence shows that he is gigging really regularly at the moment, and is a star on the rise. Plus (and much to our chagrin) he recently won the north east heat of Amused Moose - FLYING THE FLAG

Following the break we had billy-bob-thornton, the oft-threatened cowboy alter-ego of Pete Thompson. It was a lovely set, and I defy anyone else to get as many laughs from the words colaboration, and e-mail. Good stuff, great character.

The toothpaste expedition showed us their thang after that, and they were a strange mix of the sublime, the ridiculous and then back again. And again. Some fine gags, and something a little different. 'Very 80's' one punter was heard to mention. I am assuming this was a compliment of some type, especially as mullets and stripes are back 'in' (take it from a fashionista).

Sadly due to a scary work thing, I had to go home and missed the final section, but I'm told the competition, Sean Moran and Ross Wagman all had a lot of fun. Reviews (may) be posted here soon.

If you didn't see it, bad boy/girl. Still, you can make up for it by coming to the next one on 30th May. Dog & Parrot, Newcastle. Only £2, and you get at least 6 comedians for that. We spoil you we really do.

2ND MAY.

We've been suffering because the last gig, this one and (oh dear) the next one all occur following bank holidays. People have had too much fun by the time they get to Tuesday and aren't looking for any more. However, Long live comedy last night was still reasonably well attended - we aren't breaking records, but the room isn't huge, and it is so nice in there. The audience were happy to relax.

Due to a couple of last minute drop offs we had time to play with, so the acts that were on got to cut loose a little and I hope they enjoyed themselves.

Murray James was on first, he proved a breath of fresh air as he mused about the gramatical and spelling nightmare which is Toys 'R' us and explained his haircut by telling us he'd been raised by wolves. A new face on the scene with a touch of the new surrealism of the mighty boosh, some good material, and nicely different from the tired old knob gags we sometimes hear.

Chris Martin (no, not that one) did a nice set with some old material, some new, and some very smart ad-libbing. Highlights included him 'borrowing' a prosthetic arm and the unusual reason for being bullied at his school - two first names (They obviously weren't Seinfeld fans.) He scared the audience a little with the ghost that was on stage. It's ok, it turned out to be a bottle of blue MD 20/20 under a sheet- our prizes just get better.

Paul Gerrard, already a long live comedy stalwart, came on to try some new material. This is about his third appearance doing all new material - in the coming months we'll have him back with the pick of the bunch which should be a storming set. Paul's gag of the night for me -'If a dripping tap makes you want to pee, does a gas leak make you fart?'

The final section was a mix of Pete and Callum. Pete did part compere, part new material bit. The best bits were Pete wondering why the toilets have the sophisticated detail of a multi volume flush, but no paper or doors; and a critique of the new Australian tourism adverts with the slogan 'Where the bloody hell are ya?'.

Callum did his grade A material for us in preparation of a trip to manchester tonight, this was the first time Callum's done this set at LLC. Good stuff, and even though we have seen him umpteen times doing this set at other venues there are some lines that hit home every time. Charvers in west side story is becoming a classic.

As for the competition, we went with 'your favourite euphamism'. Though Making Rope for the Navy (plop-plops) came close, the winner was Hand-to-Gland Combat (an act of filthy onanism). And who can argue with that?

So, a great night, the first use of our new (hiss free) PA system, and another lovely, friendly audience. Next time (16th May) we have a job lot of comics coming up from Manchester, and I can assure you there are some crackers in there. Come early to the next one to avoid disappointment.

Oh- We forgot the camera this time, so just a nice pic from last time, audience member big Pete triumphantly grasping his blue nun.

18TH APRIL.

Some magic moments.-Sorry we failed to snap everyone.





Everyone must have been partied out after the Easter weekend because it was far from packed at this week's Long Live Comedy. For a while it looked as if the performers might be playing to each other, but a handful of people at the last minute saved us. We decided to think of it as a gig-come-workshop.  As Sarah Millican asked, the gig is fine, when does the cum workshop start?

Al opened as compere, a bit late because we were waiting for an audience to show up!  Returning from Ireland and Amsterdam he did plenty of 'aren't accents funny' material.  Probably best done when there are no Irish people in the audience (Hello Donnacha) - but Al did point out that it was the Irish adverts which had the most over-the-top accents- he didn't meet any real Irish with phone numbers such as; 0800 tree tree tree oh tree tree tree.

Chris Cross opened, and brought some support as well!  He's another comedy magician, cut from the same cloth as last week's Flash. He has some good tricks and jokes, and will no doubt get a little slicker with a bit more experience behind him.

Next up we had Donnachda back again after he did so well last time.  He's preparing for the Final of the Chortle Comedy Awards, so was happy to come back and try some new material. If you missed him, more fool you.  This boy is good.

Pete took the next section, but we were already running out of time, so he cracked on without doing his planned material. Though he did give a taster of the postponed material by pointing out that he'd brought a cowboy hat and playing an alternative intro jingle based on 'dueling banjos' from 'Deliverance.' So come back next time to see what thats all about. Pete introduced our first visitors from far afield - Manchester - and bless 'em thats a long way to come to perform for 12 people.

Ian Fox previewed part of his 'butterfly effect' show that he is taking to Edinburgh this year.  This will involve stories of how one tiny event can lead to huge repercussions. This story started with a monkey called dave and ended - somehow - with a huge plane crash, via post orgasmic narcolepsy and poo flinging. Good stuff, lots of monkeys - who all call themselves Dave in private.

Next was Swab.  A noun/verb you wouldn't expect to see as a name.  He was a second magical comedy act, and mercy, it was something else and had the focus more on the comedy. He illustrated a mathematical series in party poppers - 1, 6, 36.. it goes up at an alarming rate  And performed a rabbit from the hat with a very reluctant rabbit, a gun and lots of fake blood.

Callum had found a strange rant from the west end to tell us all.  Surreal but funny, and served to compere the final section.

Sarah Millican treated us to a load of new material.  Some remarkable sexually agressive stuff that really had people laughing, not sure it would work in a WI seminar between cake decorating and Blair baiting, but it was one of the night's highlights.

Finally Al returned and talked about the toilet.  Some good old lavatorial humour to finish off a quiet but enjoyable night.

The competition was the Butcher's songbook - songs that a butcher would enjoy e.g. liver and let pie, Give beef a chance etc.  Winner got a bottle of hock, and a pile of Ferrero Rocher.  Da da-da-da da-da da-da-da-daaa.... We were really spoiling you.

APRIL 4TH.

Some pics of some of the performers this week. They are Paul Gerrard; Flash; James Christopher; John Scott; Callum and Al reading the audience competition entries.


So what happened? Pete compered section 1 with a few bits of new material including his theory on the evolution of the cat, 'tiny lion spies.' He also tested the theory that there's nothing funnier than reading trivial pursuit questions with the wrong answers. This lead into the new competition based on the old Two Ronnies 'Mastermind sketch', where the answers arrive a question late;

What's the current most popular girls name? Paris.
Who is Peter Parker's alter-ego? Chantelle.
Who is Premiership footballs all time top goal　scorer? Spiderman.


Which meant we gave away 2 prizes at the end. Mad Dog 20/20 AND le piat d'or? We really are spoiling you.

Paul Gerrard was our first act, making his second appearance at LLC, was back with all fresh material and produced another blast of fine one-liners.

James Christopher was on second. He is one of the best exponents of taking his image and working it as a full set. Check out his picture, can you guess what he mentions a lot? That's right, Doctor Who. He has perfected his set of spoddy sci-fi fan material. We've seen the routine before, but the delivery and new touches mean it's still a joy to watch. (And in real life he's a boxing steelworker on his third marriage.)

Section 2 was compered by Al, with new material, contemplating possible future fatherhood and the fact that he might be impotent, but not imPOtent. (He wanted to stress that.) Al has a lot of clever material but it has to be said, people still seem to like it best when he brings out the knob gags. As he said after the show...

"You can't escape the fact that the big laughs originate from the genetalia, or their functions. I'll be honest, I'd like to think I was bigger than my cock (gags), but rule 1 is be funny."

John Scott, who plays at Jongleurs and other places you've actually heard of, came down to help us out. (Hats off to him.) He showed the difference between a pro (him) and a new act (The rest of us.). He took hold of the room, and made people more comfortable, as well as making them laugh. The night settled down and got even better after his set.

Ned Nineacres (Pete thompson back again disguised in waistcoat and scarf) was next experimenting with a wurzles type character. He had some good gags, sang 'cross town traffic' in a (vaguely) west country accent and chinned 2 pints of cider. He regretted this soon after, which was even funnier.

Callum compered section three, and kept things moving with a combination of tried and tested material and new stuff.

Penultimate act was a magician (woo) -the Flash. He has a funny likeable style and, while some of his tricks are just gags, he is a talented magician and some bits are really impressive. I must say that I preffered tonight's trick last time I saw it, as the audience member was a bit thicker and was utterly astounded, like she'd wittnessed a miracle.

Last act was, Donnacha O'Connill whose dry one-liners on failure in love, life and everything make him sound like an Irish Woody Allen. We forgot to get a picture but he is on next time (18th April), so if you want to see a truly funny act on the up and up before he grows up and gets a proper job, i recommend you come along.

21ST MARCH.

Here's a few photo's of some of this week's performers. We'd hoped to get some on stage shots, but the camera battery was too low to use the flash so we had to pose them under lights afterwards. Not very flattering in most cases, though Christian looks cool.
They are; Christian Steele; Lee Teah; Sarah Millican; Tom Mitchell.



Another good show, a slightly smaller crowd than opening night but a great atmosphere. The format changed a little, the 3 regulars compered one section of the show each, trying new material in the links. As for rest of the lineup, it was a pretty stellar one:

Callum warmed up his section with musings based on the weirder stories from 'Metro' free newspaper. Then our first act was Tom Mitchell, who's sometimes seen as part of the 'Belly Rub' sketch group, so he has plenty of experience. He went on to a cool crowd and warmed them up nicely.

Sarah Millican (Our only genuine pofessional) was originally going to headline, but, poor thing was knackered and needed her bed so she went on early. She treated us to some great material and saved some new stuff for last. As usual Sarah asked permission to try the new material and apologised in advance in case it was rubbish. By this time she had the crowd well and truly on her side, the new stuff turned out to be great too, and it was feeling like an event.

Pete brought along his guitar and in his section filled the gaps with reworkings of TV themes and other musical treats. Lee Teah was on next and, despite being still quite new to comedy, already has some great lines in his set.

Catherine Scott (No picture as she slipped away before we snapped her, sorry) came on next, and her style is very relaxed and friendly, which went well with the crowd who were happy to settle in at this stage. She even prompted a friend of Al's in the crowd to say "I thought girls were rubbish at stand-up, but they aren't." Al informs us that from this particular friend this is high praise indeed.

Al MC'd the third section trying out new ideas following his full set last time. His first guest was our very own Callum who relaxed into some great material. Cats Vs Dogs especially found favour with the crowd.

Christian Steele finished the night off for us in style. God bless him he was brilliant. A few bits that I had never seen before, to go with his new hair I suppose. And all his old stuff has been finely tuned - there's not much fat left on the act now, and though he'd stepped into the spot at the last minute he proved a confident headliner.

One funny moment (for us) showed that great minds think alike when Christian did a Particularly good James 'rhyming slang' Blunt song. Bizarrely the song had been similarly parodied last week by Les Paul Marshall - Both swapping 'beautiful' and 'face' for 'hideous' and 'disgrace'. Of course, both had their own style and twist, but even spookier, they both played it on a ukulele! What are the chances of that happening?

Another great night!

7TH MARCH.

Our first gig went without too many genuine hitches, though admittedly a few teething troubles. First a run down of who did what...

Al's health and safety inspector started off the show - "All accidents must be noted in the book, there's been some minor ones already, in rehersals Callum laughed too hard and a little bit of wee came out." After a quick introduction from our 3 hosts, Paul Gerrard was on first and is getting better and better, and set the night up really well. We lost James Christopher to gut rot (poor excuse), so Peter Thompson had to go on and fill the gap with the routine he did at the student comedy awards. ('Not without promise', raved the reviewer from Chortle) Al Dawes did a good 10 minutes, incorporating a lot of new material. Peter appeared again with Callum Cramb in an elongated sketch / link about a magician who makes 'the bird' appear from nowhere. Les Paul Marshall almost didn't get there but when he did get there he managed to delight some and disgust others. Alex Collier boldly finished off the show in fine style.

One success of the night was the audience competition, this week it was to think of a word, and write a new definition (e.g. supercedes; the best budgie food in the world, or collonade; a fizzy enema). We weren't sure if the audience would be willing to take part, and had a few sneaky 'entries' already in the box. However, when we opened it at the end of the night it was stuffed with ideas from nearly every table. The winner was the rather spurious Contagious; used to describe a council worker. As in 'any job will take that lazy contagious.' They made it away with a lovely bottle of Blue Nun. Here's a few more of the best entries;

copper nitrate - overtime for policemen.
DNA - national dyslexics association.
trampoline - a skinny vagrant.
boomerang - a startling pudding.
Quincy - a fruity medical drama.
Dilate - to live too long.

Some of those teething troubles involved the fixable - only one mic and a few of the stage lights had missing bulbs. Others were more problematic - some people think we should just get one experienced compere, instead of linking through a mix of banter, competitions and sketches. Our philosophy here is that if we go for the compere option we'll be the same as every comedy night going - we'd rather be different, even if that means risking some things falling flat.