Don Ward

Don Ward opened the UK’s most famous comedy club in 1979 above a strip club and is now known as a man who has helped hone the talents of more comedians than pretty much anyone else in the country.

 

The list is endless so we’ll stick to a few here but Ward has put a young Ben Elton and Alexei Sayle on the stage as well as The Comedy Store Players and international comedians such as Robin Williams, Seinfeld, Mike Myers and Chris Rock.

 

His feedback to comedians is famous in its own right, with Ward known to dissect jokes in front of new or even established comedians to get to the bare bones of a punch-line like an army colonel. The reason for this is simple, The Comedy Store is known as the place to find the best comedy in London on any given night, so standards are kept incredibly high.

 

So now that Ward is well into his Sixties ever rest on his laurels? It doesn’t look like it, following on from a new Store in Manchester Ward in 2010 decided to go even further and open up in Mumbai, India. Speaking to the British Comedy Guide Ward said: “I'd find sitting on a beach hard work. I'd be sitting there thinking 'Is this it?' Running the business doesn't feel like work, I can honestly and truly say to you.” Ward said.”

 

So budding comedians bear in mind that Ward is going nowhere for the foreseeable future at least, and as for his influence on comedy in the UK, as Ward himself says: “If you can get a weekend here [The Store] or in Manchester, you've made it.” Quite.