Really Lovely Comedy, the icing on the Comedy Cake
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They mix two of life's great pleasures, comedy and cakes, now Really Lovely Comedy are set to run a stage at this years Comedy Crawl as part of a May Bank Holiday weekend festival of laughter all over London's borough of Camden.
To find out more, SSP got in touch with the Queen of Cakes, Beth O Brien to ask what makes a really lovely comedy night.
What have the last 18 months since you started Really Lovely Comedy been like for you?
Late nights, low pay, enforced terrible eating habits and I've loved every minute of it.
London is already crowded with promoters, what made you want to enter the comedy whirlwind?
Very simply, I wanted to do my favourite thing for a living. I wanted to run clubs where if someone asked the acts or audience how the gig was they'd say "yeah, it was really lovely"- that's where the name came from.
You mix comedy and cakes, does the sugar rush have a certain appeal to a comedy lover?
In that they're both addictive endorphin boosters? Definitely. At my Sunday club, The Really Lovely Comedy Tea Party the audience gets free cupcakes and they are all sugar-happy before the MC, Ben (Van der Velde) even reaches the stage. We
get a lot of regulars, I try to take the fact they refer to it as "The Cake Show" as a compliment to my baking skills rather than a reflection on the lineups.
You are putting on a stage at the Comedy Crawl this year? How has it been to organise and what are you looking forward to most?
I've got a stage at The Camden Head for both The Camden Crawl and The Comedy Crawl. It's been great working with the other promoters, that's something I hadn't done before.
However, because of print deadlines most of my bookings had to be done within a 2 week window, 11 days of which I was on holiday.
Having to say to people "Could you let me know by this incredibly tight deadline but absolutely not by email as I'm on a tropical island" did make me sound like a dilettante, to put it as politely as possible. It worked out though, and I'm really looking forward to having Frisky and Mannish on for the first time
If you could pick out one thing about the last 18 months, what would you say has been the highlight?
Actually the two big charity gigs I've put on have meant a lot.
I staged one for Action for ME at which we had Adam Bloom, Wilson Dixon, Idiots of Ants and Patrick Monahan and one for Kids Company which featured Miles Jupp, Pappy's, Paul Sinha, Pat Monahan again (bless him), Josh Widdicombe and James Acaster.
They were both great gigs and raised over £6000 for the charities between them. Now, if only I could make that much from every non-charity show I run I would win at comedy.
Who is your favourite act on the circuit at the moment ?
Miles Jupp was excellent headlining my show last night. I think James Acaster is going to have a great year this year, and of course Abandoman are like nobody else around at the moment.
What are you up to for the rest of the year, what is 2011 going to bring?
Aside from the Crawls, I'll continue to run my two clubs (the Tea Party and The Really Lovely Comedy Show) and plan to launch a third London club. I'll also be producing four shows in Edinburgh as Ditto Productions- The Beta Males, Jay
Foreman, Luke Wright and Max and Ivan which I'm really excited about.
Find out more about Really Lovely Comedy at www.reallylovelycomedy.co.uk
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Comments
Comedy make thing easy
It's true that Comedy make the life easy and veyr joyble. I always love see the comedy shows. Comedy make me very confident and joyful.
When I was Thailand Condo - I use to make comedy show for my guest. But now I only write shows and not acting. But seriously if I get chance to act comedy than I definately do.
Aran