Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up?

Aaron Morris: I’ve been doing stand-up for about a year and a half now, it was a good choice I think, its not a job you need a interview for but you still need to put in a load of hard work, I enjoy that. Yet, the audience are like the interviewers they either hate you or like you, I’ve had good gigs and bad gigs like any comedian but both good and bad gigs just make your act better by helping you improve it.

Comedy Blogedy: How would you describe your comedy?

Aaron Morris: My comedy is based on true experiences I’ve had in life, of course for comedy effect there are added bits but I get it all from the things that happen to me each day… I guess its all about my low self-esteem in a way, how things happen and the reaction they’ve had. I think of how others view me and talk about myself in that way. Feeling sorry for myself in the worst situations, mostly realising I’m an idiot.

Comedy Blogedy: Which comedians influence your comedy?

Aaron Morris: Ah, there are so many, it’s changed over the years, My granddad was a massive Monty Python fan, so I grew up watching those films and sketches from a very young age. That got me onto great comedians like Tommy Cooper and Norman Wisdom, there are some greats, but when I reached my 20s I noticed I was really into a wide range of comedians, Ricky Gervais is a big influence, just because the way he tells his jokes and the way they are laid out, but then there are comedians like Reginald D Hunter, who just has another great way of putting a joke out there. I’m not great with my flow. So many comedians now and I think every comedian I meet will have an influence, I like a range of comedy, everyone likes a laugh.

Comedy Blogedy: Did you always want to go into comedy?

Aaron Morris: Not really, it was a push I guess last minute, I studied Drama and was into acting, I did a few plays and short films, nothing great, so performance was something I wanted to do. I was a radio presenter for a while and my shows took the way of being humorous, I didn’t intend it to be that way but people mainly tuned in for the comedy side of it. So I tried stand-up my first try didn’t go down well, so I tried once more and got a great buzz. I wasn’t popular at school so I wasn’t really classed as the funny one, I was quite shy really, so this I guess was the right step at the right time.

Comedy Blogedy: How do you go about writing your material?

Aaron Morris: I’ve heard many ways other comedians do it, the most popular is carrying a notebook and jotting stuff down, that’s what I do, or text my friend Chris random notes just so its stored on my phone and he knows nothing of what it means. I spend a good few hours each day trying to write material, I say trying because some days I write nothing, my mind can wonder off and just not bother which I hate, but I really try to focus on the great points and what makes it funny to me. Everyone has a different sense of humour, my comedy is for those with the same sense of humour as me, so if I find it funny it has a chance.

Comedy Blogedy: Do you gig as a stand-up full time or is it more of a part-time hobby? If so, do you find that your main job influences your material?

Aaron Morris: I wish I could do stand-up full time, I’m also a presenter, actor and writer, so I keep busy. I guess those other jobs do give me some influence to my material, but its more about each experience that happens to me. When I’m doing a job I like to concentrate, its more when I’m relaxed I get to open my mind for my writing. I guess all influence is from human interaction in any form for me. I just enjoy writing. Although, I have a podcast on iTunes, I guess that’s part of my presenting side, that brings out a lot of the inner humor on the spot, I enjoy doing that cause it does open some windows in my stand-up.

Comedy Blogedy: What do you find the most enjoyable and frustrating parts of the amateur comedy circuit?

Aaron Morris: Ah, the most enjoyable is the buzz you get when on stage, I’ve been on many stages countless times but I do get nervous, but once on stage it drops and the adrenaline takes over; I enjoy making people laugh even if its to 3 people or a packed room. The most frustrating is when I have a bad gig, I blame myself for days, but as I say its down to the crowd, I find women are easier to make laugh than men, so I check the audience for luck to make sure there are more women out there, otherwise I feel bad. Everyone laughs at different things, I always say “I’m never doing it again” after a bad gig, a few days later I’m back. I’m like a hissyfitting 8-year-old girl.

Comedy Blogedy: What’s your favourite type of audience to perform to?

Aaron Morris: I guess the mature audience haven’t really grown to me yet, I love students, they are always up for a good time. I could tell jokes to students for hours, if I had that many jokes. Being 21, my sets are young minded, so students think on the same level. I’m known for being a little offensive, I don’t mean it, just people can take offense to anything if you take it out of context. Students are open minded where as mature audiences have fixed minds as they have been on the life boat for quite sometime.

Comedy Blogedy: Have you been heckled a lot since you’ve started gigging? Do you enjoy being heckled? What’s the best heckle you’ve had?

Aaron Morris: I’m not going to lie, I get heckled a lot, I hate hecklers, they think its adding to the show, but it’s making them look a state. I hate it when you build up the premise of a joke, sometimes on-going jokes that fix the whole set together and halfway through you are thrown off. With stand-up it’s all about staying in the act, its hard to do so with a part there that’s not meant to be there. I don’t think I’ve had that many great heckles, most are comments like “Your Mum” and “You’re Shit”, I’ve not yet had any full show stoppers.

Comedy Blogedy: What advice would you give to new acts thinking about starting out in comedy?

Aaron Morris: Try it, a lot of comedians have said in the past, its the hardest job or its horrible. I think its different for everyone, don’t give up on your first try either, keep going at it as it’s the only way to get somewhere. Work at it and maybe you could be the next big thing, who knows? I just enjoy the buzz and making people laugh. It’s an amazing thing, put your mind to it and achieve.

www.ceciljr.com

@aaronccmorris

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For more interviews with new acts, visit comedyblogedy.com/newacts

Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up?

Martha Owen: I did a course at my youth club (Heatham House) about two years ago, but I only really started actually gigging all over the place about a year and a bit ago. I’ve been at Edinburgh twice though with Those Bloody Teenagers (some of my fellow teenage comics).

Comedy Blogedy: How would you describe your comedy?

Martha Owen: Not really very funny. I’m not clever enough to write proper jokes with punchlines and actual laughs, and I’m too scared if I’m honest to be one of those hilarious raconteurs, so I just muck around with ones that everyone knows like ‘What do you get when you cross a sheep and a kangaroo?’ and then change the punchline so the joke doesn’t work, like ‘A mutant’. That sort of rubbish.

Comedy Blogedy: Which comedians influence your comedy?

Martha Owen: I’m a big fan of the Invisible Dot crew (Tim Key, Johnny Sweet, John-Luke Roberts…) and I’d love to think that I’m in some way comparable. And I love a lot of old stuff – I’ve been watching Monty Python since I was about 3 (you’d think my parents would have stopped me but they didn’t), the Smell of Reeves and Mortimer and Morecambe and Wise. And my friend Hatty Ashdown is absolutely wonderful, she is charm itself with lots of laughs thrown in, watching her is brilliant.

Comedy Blogedy: Did you always want to go into comedy?

Martha Owen: As I recall, I wanted to be a spy, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t still want to.

Comedy Blogedy: How do you go about writing your material?

Martha Owen: I have to fit it around school work (I’m in my first year of sixth form at the moment) which is annoying, but when I do try and have a writing sesh I mainly just sit around until something happens. Because I’m not writing jokes that ‘work’ it’s a lot easier – if the joke I write is bad, that’s perfect. If I feel stuck I generally just watch Mike Flowers’ version of Wonderwall and that gets me back on track.

Comedy Blogedy: Do you gig as a stand-up full time or is it more of a part-time hobby? If so, do you find that your main job influences your material?

Martha Owen: I’m at school, although reluctantly. So unfortunately my history essays have to take priority. And yes, they do tend to influence each other – I’ve been known to write jokes in Ancient Greek. Not many people get them though.

Comedy Blogedy: What do you find the most enjoyable and frustrating parts of the amateur comedy circuit?

Martha Owen: The best bit is definitely the people, without wanting to sound cheesy. Everyone’s lovely. The most frustrating part (for me at least) is not being able to get into certain venues. I am basically a child still, and the worst feeling is to prepare, get all the way to a venue and then not be allowed in.

Comedy Blogedy: What’s your favourite type of audience to perform to?

Martha Owen: Not people my age. Teenagers are really annoying, I hate them. I’m not sure about my favourite though – mainly people who actually came and want to see comedy, rather than unsuspecting foreign tourists from the bar. Mild tipsiness is welcome.

Comedy Blogedy: Have you been heckled a lot since you’ve started gigging? Do you enjoy being heckled? What’s the best heckle you’ve had?

Martha Owen: I’ve never been properly heckled. I suppose that’s because of my age too. My friend did get heckled by a Tory once and there are some things I just never want to have to deal with onstage (e.g. ‘I voted Conservative because I’m cleverer than you’). Still, I think of heckling as some terrifying rite of passage that I’ll have to go through at some point. Until then I’ll blunder on in blissful ignorance.

Comedy Blogedy: What advice would you give to new acts thinking about starting out in comedy?

Martha Owen: I found it was good to create a kind of persona, Will Andrews is a great example – that way you don’t feel so vulnerable onstage and it’s generally funnier. And always write to make yourself laugh, not other people. Unless you’ve got a rubbish sense of humour, in which case don’t do that, do something else. Or don’t be a stand up.

@TinyMarthaBrown 

For more interviews with new acts, visit comedyblogedy.com/newacts

Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up?

Phillip Wragg: My first gig was in May 2011 at the Comedy Virgins night at the Cavendish Arms in Stockwell. I was pretty nervous but got there to find out that the audience decides the running order and that it’s run as a competition. I really enjoyed it though and managed to come 2nd in the vote off.

Comedy Blogedy: How would you describe your comedy?

Phillip Wragg: Slightly camp, observational humour. I talk about the reality of being a gay man, relationships, sex and more general day to day stuff. I don’t do gags, I prefer each set to have a clear arc – that’s just my writing style, also it’s easier to remember!

Comedy Blogedy: Which comedians influence your comedy?

Phillip Wragg: My parents are big comedy fans so I was brought up watching Billy Connolly and Victoria Wood. I tend to prefer female comics like Joan Rivers, Kathy Griffin and Ellen Degeneres but also love Eddie Izzard, Alan Carr, Micky Flanagan, Sarah Millican – too many to mention.

Comedy Blogedy: Did you always want to go into comedy?

Phillip Wragg: As far back as I can remember I have loved comedy but never dreamed that I would be able to do it, I would usually be the one in my group of friends to make people laugh and they encouraged me to do a stand up comedy course which I loved and then started gigging shortly after.

Phillip Wragg: I always have a notepad with me so just jot down anything and everything and then at the end of each week I go through my notes and see if there is anything that could potentially go into a set, it can be anything from stuff that annoys me through to dating experiences etc.

Comedy Blogedy: Do you gig as a stand-up full time or is it more of a part-time hobby? If so, do you find that your main job influences your material?

Phillip Wragg: I work in sexual health but have not referred to it in my sets yet but there is definitely material there! Since starting in May I have done just over 50 gigs and intend to keep that up for 2012. I am taking a comedy revue show to the Edinburgh Fringe with fellow comedian Elena Kombou, the show is called “Would Like To Meet” and will see sets by both of us alongside the best of the London comedy circuit with 3 different guest comedians each night!

Comedy Blogedy: What do you find the most enjoyable and frustrating parts of the amateur comedy circuit?

Phillip Wragg: I really like how supportive and friendly other comics are and I just love being on stage -  it can be scary and nerve wracking but the pay off from a good gig makes it all worthwhile. I guess the only frustrating aspect is sometimes gigs are not promoted as well as they could be and that can lead to a pretty empty room but it’s all good practice.

Comedy Blogedy: What’s your favourite type of audience to perform to?

Phillip Wragg: Am happy performing to anyone really but seeing lots of smiling faces and people that are up for a good night definitely helps.

Comedy Blogedy: Have you been heckled a lot since you’ve started gigging? Do you enjoy being heckled? What’s the best heckle you’ve had?

Phillip Wragg: The heckling has started in the last few weeks, I don’t particularly enjoy it, it can be really distracting and throw you off course, most of the heckles have been from people so drunk, I had no idea what they were saying. At a recent gig there was a guy by the stage who kept repeating a homophobic word under his breath, I think I dealt with that pretty well, he stormed out!

Comedy Blogedy: What advice would you give to new acts thinking about starting out in comedy?

Phillip Wragg: Just do it! start writing every day, get a good 5 minutes together, check websites like stand up london, get emailing promoters, be prepared to work hard and have fun.

Phillip Wragg will be performing the Jekyll and Hyde Pub, 112 Hanover Street from 15^th-26^th August at 6.50pm

www.phillipwragg.com

@pipwragg / @WLTMedfringe

For more interviews with new acts, visit comedyblogedy.com/newacts

Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up?

The Custard Chucker: I’ve been playing Musical Comedy Songs around the country for the past twelve years but only started writing ‘Jokes’ and incorporating Stand Up comedy in my act for the last two years. (That answer makes me sound like one of two things… A veteran in comedy or an Old Age Pensioner lol)

Comedy Blogedy: How would you describe your comedy?

The Custard Chucker: I would say Edgy/Smutty Musical Stand Up Comedy but there is a lot more to it then that. To give you more of an idea, I’ll say that if Kevin ‘Bloody’ Wilson, Tim Minchin, Frankie Boyle, Jimmy Carr, Tenacious D, Derek and Clive and Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown met up secretly in a hotel room, had a orgy of hot steamy passionate sex and one of them had a baby mixed with all of their comedy DNA…. Then that would be me.

Comedy Blogedy: Which comedians influence your comedy?

The Custard Chucker: I am influenced by any comedian who are not afraid to use material that makes an audience think – not necessarily to shock an audience but to use shocking material in a clever and unique way. Comedians like Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr, who are both amazing gag writers and can structure a joke cleverly, to the point, with the perfect punch line. Then there’s comics like Louis CK and Chris Rock who tell stories that take you on a journey of some sort of depravity with jokes from beginning to end until the main punch line hits you like a hammer to the face.

Comedy Blogedy: Did you always want to go into comedy?

The Custard Chucker: I always knew I wanted to entertain people from an early age from about five or six years old. My parents would leave me with my Nan and I’d be upstairs in her room going through her wardrobe. I’d come down the stairs wearing a skirt, a blouse, tights, high heels and a feather bower, my genitals would be tucked in-between my legs and I’d do Lily Savage impressions to make my Nan laugh. I now know that there was no need to tuck anything anywhere. Then when I was a little older around ten or eleven years of age, I would go through all my Dad’s old Records and tapes of old school comedians like Derek and Clive, Judge Dread and Jimmy Jones to learn their entire act. I remember learning the whole of the Jimmy Jones ‘Would I Lie To You’ tape word for word and performing it as an act of love to a girl I liked at school… She never spoke to me again.

Comedy Blogedy: How do you go about writing your material?

The Custard Chucker: My songs are about Taboo situation’s in everyday life, whether it be Sex, Drugs, Adultery, Death, Disability, Pornography, Love, Hate and even Religion. I just use Topics that people are afraid to talk about or don’t want to talk about, take those situations and push them to the max.

Comedy Blogedy: Do you gig as a stand-up full time or is it more of a part-time hobby? If so, do you find that your main job influences your material?

The Custard Chucker: I work full time but in all honesty, I hate my ‘Proper Job’ and consider the stage as my second home. In a profession, some people don’t want to talk about or even take their work home with them as it is sometimes stressful. The same rule applies with my material, the last thing I want to talk about on stage is my work day. As for my stand u

p being a hobby, I would consider it as more of a way of life for me, it’s what I’ve always wanted to do and give it 100% on stage whether I’m performing to one person or two hundred people…

Comedy Blogedy: What do you find the most enjoyable and frustrating parts of the amateur comedy circuit?

The Custard Chucker: The most enjoyable thing about the amateur comedy circuit is meeting and sharing the stage with extremely talented people, most of my friends are all comedians now days. You also get to have a great comics around you where you can discuss material, give advice and talk about what works and what doesn’t work. I also love the feeling when you turn up to an Open Mic show where no one knows who you are, do your show, storm it and other comedians talk to you about how good your material was or a particular joke. I know that may sound self-absorbed BUT what I say is, if you can make a good comedian laugh then you know you’re going in the right direction because they know what you have to go through to get that laugh. As for the frustrating sides to the amateur comedy circuit there are to many to mention but I will say is it is frustrating when you see brilliant comics on the circuit that have been on it for eight or nine years but haven’t been snapped up. You really do have to be at the right gig at the right time or get down on your knees and take one for the team. Oh… not to mention that traveling to shows is bloody expensive! That’s annoying.

Comedy Blogedy: What’s your favourite type of audience to perform to?

The Custard Chucker: An audience that are willing to listen and an audience who get that what I am either talking or singing about… are only jokes. I hate an ignorant audience, if you don’t like what you hear, then why on earth would you go to a comedy show? Comedy is about freedom of speech! I also love a bit of a rowdy audience. I performed at Donington/Download Festival Comedy Tent in 2010 and 2011 and it was just full of a thousand drunk rowdy metal heads, the banter was brilliant because my act fitted the mood of the festival. Oh and where there is alcohol, there is always a good show.

Comedy Blogedy: Have you been heckled a lot since you’ve started gigging? Do you enjoy being heckled? What’s the best heckle you’ve had?

The Custard Chucker: I really don’t mind hecklers, if it’s a good heckle I will deal with it cleverly but if it’s a rubbish heckle I will go straight for the jugular! I did a show once where I played a song called ‘Blue Bus Ride.’ The song was actually about two disabled people who go out on an outing, spend the whole day together and fall in love. A drunk lady stood up after the song and shouted “Oi! I can’t believe you sang about that! My son’s disabled! You don’t deserve that applause! You ignorant! W***ker!” I then said calmly, “Well I have two things to say to you lady.. ONE… Disabled people CAN fall in love you know and TWO… If your son is disabled, then you should be at home looking after him rather than spending his disability benefits on your alcohol problem! You’re the ignorant one, now get bent!” She left swiftly after that.

Comedy Blogedy: What advice would you give to new acts thinking about starting out in comedy?

The Custard Chucker: Take that chance and do it. The feeling you get when that first laugh comes I just can’t describe. Stand Up Comedy is like a drug once you do one gig, you want more. It’s not easy but if you get past that first step, then you’ll be OK. Get some material together, keep true to yourself and don’t change your material for anybody.

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The Custard Chucker is a Stand Up Comedian and comedic song writer from South London. He has been a comedic songwriter for the past twelve years but has been performing stand up since early 2010. With his dark, blue and mostly filthy cut throat style, The Custard Chucker has been wowing the comedy circuit and is now ready to take on anyone in his path.

With six appearances on London’s Absolute Radio 105.8 ‘Tim Shaw’s Absolution’ and two very successful appearances at ‘Download Festival Comedy Tent’ (2010/2011)

He is also the voice on the phone skits on ‘Tim Shaw’s LOL Show’ on Rock FM Manchester every Sunday Evening from 10pm till 2am.

The Custard Chucker’s debut solo album ‘Toilet Humour’ is out in June 2012.

SUPPORTING CREDITS

PHIL NICHOL- (Solo and Corky and the juice pigs)- Download Festival

ARTHUR SMITH-(QI, Have I got News For You, Grumpy Old Men)

COLE PARKER (Show Me The Funny)

ROB ROUSE-(The Friday night Project- Series1)

JASON ROUSE-(HBO Special)

ERIC LAMBAERT- (TV Comedian and Actor)

IMRAN YUSEF (Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow)

He is Also a ‘Golden Jester’ Competition Quarter Finalist for 2012.

The Custard Chucker will not leave you disappointed and his plans are to make the ‘Dark, Edgy smutty Blue’ Genre of comedy excepted with his own kind of ‘Shock Comedy’

QUOTES

“The Custard Chucker is a Dark, Edgy Comedian, Lovably Horrible….Ace!” – Eric Lambaert

“If Oscar Wild Wrote Disgustingly Brilliant Comedy Songs in his life time…he would of changed his name to The Custard Chucker” – Radio’s Shock Jock and Balls Of Steel’s (Mr Inappropriate)- Tim Shaw.

“F***ing Mental… I laughed so much I shat out my insides!” -Neg Dupree (Ball’s of Steel, Channel 4)

“Watching a Custard Chucker performance is like a crank personified… You’re worried that your doing it and that others might catch you doing it… But it feel’s so God-Dam good!”-TNT’s Comedy

For more interviews with new acts, visit comedyblogedy.com/newacts

President Obonjo: Since 2010

Comedy Blogedy: How would you describe your comedy?

President Obonjo: My set combines story lines with humour drawing on my African and British influences and the impact they have had on my life; I also talk about the stereotypes of being a Nigerian and the impact of Social media on my life. Also included in my acts are political, topical and observational comedy .

Comedy Blogedy: Which comedians influence your comedy?

President Obonjo: Richard Pryor, Chris Rock and Eddy Murphy

Comedy Blogedy: Did you always want to go into comedy?

President Obonjo: I never thought about wanting to go into comedy it just happened naturally, it was a journey I began right from when I was born, I can’t believe I said that.  Every day is comedy for me so why not share my experiences on stage?

Comedy Blogedy: How do you go about writing your material?

President Obonjo: I tend to write things down as they occur either on a note pad or a piece of paper and patiently wait to develop what I have written further, most times ideas just flow… I might be thinking about a particular subject or narrating an experience over an issue that becomes very funny and I write it down.

Comedy Blogedy: Do you gig as a stand-up full time or is it more of a part-time hobby? If so, do you find that your main job influences your material?

President Obonjo: Full time but previously my main job never influenced my material but over the last few months,  I do recall certain situations that are now influencing my material. I call them de ja vu situations that end up being funny to me.

Comedy Blogedy: What do you find the most enjoyable and frustrating parts of the amateur comedy circuit?

President Obonjo: I think what I have found most useful is the opportunity to share knowledge and experience with other comics and there is a positive vibe to encourage comics to succeed. There is so much competition out there, I prefer healthy competition, one that encourages others to step up their game.  I think one should be selective about the gigs you do, my motto is not how many gigs you have done but how many have been good quality gigs.

Comedy Blogedy: What’s your favourite type of audience to perform to?

President Obonjo: I don’t have any favourite audiences – a good comedian should be able to play to any audience without any preferences.

Comedy Blogedy: Have you been heckled a lot since you’ve started gigging? Do you enjoy being heckled? What’s the best heckle you’ve had?

President Obonjo: Just once,  over a joke I made about a particular tribe in Nigeria. It has not happened that often but when it does I find it liberating and challenging that I have gotten under a comedy lover’s skin. I find heckling another opportunity to create comedy gold opportunities.

Comedy Blogedy: What advice would you give to new acts thinking about starting out in comedy?

President Obonjo: Just do it and listen to every good rather than bad advice you can get along the way. Don’t let anyone tell you not to do it, have self-belief and confidence and good luck.

@Obonjo

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www.laftarepublic.com

For more interviews with new acts, visit comedyblogedy.com/newacts

Comedy Blogedy: How long have you been gigging in stand-up?

Chris Gau: I’ve been gigging since April 2011.

Comedy Blogedy: How would you describe your comedy?

Chris Gau: Slapdash with a soupcon of amateur hour.

Comedy Blogedy: Which comedians influence your comedy?

Chris Gau: I love Louis CK. Americans have got the craft down. But I love English comedians like Paul Foot & Tim Key. We English have got the silly down.

Comedy Blogedy: Did you always want to go into comedy?

Chris Gau: People used to laugh at me at school if that’s what you mean. THAT IS WHAT YOU MEAN ISN’T?!!

Comedy Blogedy: How do you go about writing your material?

Chris Gau: With great reluctance. I write little things in my phone and once every solar eclipse I collate them and see if there’s anything funny in there.

Comedy Blogedy: Do you gig as a stand-up full time or is it more of a part-time hobby? If so, do you find that your main job influences your material?

Chris Gau: I’m a professional arse-model. So no.

Comedy Blogedy: What do you find the most enjoyable and frustrating parts of the amateur comedy circuit?

Chris Gau: It’s hard playing to no one or the same faces week in week out. That said it’s generally very supportive at this level.

Comedy Blogedy: What’s your favourite type of audience to perform to?

Chris Gau: Comedy savvy young people, who’ve come for a good night out. A small few audiences sometimes look at us acts and say with damning eyes “make us laugh then” – they’re the hardest.

Comedy Blogedy: Have you been heckled a lot since you’ve started gigging? Do you enjoy being heckled? What’s the best heckle you’ve had?

Chris Gau: So far so good.

What advice would you give to new acts thinking about starting out in comedy?

Chris Gau: Go for it! What’s the worse that could happen? Oh. Apart from that. Yes. And that.

@thechrisgau

This Fringe, The Royal Society for the Promotion of Nutters will be compiling the most authoritative field guide yetto our nation’s nuters. From religious nutter to the lesser-spotted Conspiracy nutter, ocme nad explore all varieties distributed cross teh UK. Learn about their behaviour, diet and habitat and bring your own stories and sightings to help our two experts compile data on these wonderful and varied creatures. With George Cassavetti, Jokers’ 2011 Semi-Finalist & Chris Gau, BBC New Comedy Awards 2011.

Directed by Chris Head (director Your Days Are Numbered Assembly Rooms, This Sketch Show Belongs to Lionel Richie Underbelly)

Venue: Espionage, 4 India Buildings (Entrances on Victoria Street and Cowgate) Edinburgh EH1 2EX

Ticket Prices: Free

Room: Kasbar

Aug 2-13, 15-26 at 14:15 (60 min)

For more interviews with new acts, visit comedyblogedy.com/newacts

 The game you deserve.

Pias Comedy presents The Dark Room, a YouTube smash designed to delight and frustrate in equal measure. The ultimate carrot-and-stick game, where both the carrot and stick are invisible and you won’t know why you’re being punished, but you’ll love it.  Created by Australian comedian John Robertson, The Dark Room has become an internet sensation in a few short weeks!

Robertson explains the genesis of The Dark Room:

“ The Dark Room came about as a stand- up routine in which I played the game alone, responding to myself. It existed like that for exactly a day. The second time I performed it was in the middle of a 2,000-seat theatre. I watched amazed as 2,000 people – STRANGERS! – tried desperately to play this stupid game. They were frantic. ALL THEY WANTED WAS TO ESCAPE. Two days later I was still getting mail about it, people were drawing pictures of me in a dark room, one young man even made a webcomic in tribute. And so I thought, “Well, if people want me to mess with them, I will.”  And I did.

Since then, it’s expanded. Parts have been filmed on five different countries (each country gets its own moment of revelation in the game) and the invisible nature of the content means that whenever I feel like it, I can just go in there and change the game entirely.  We’ve been featured in Variety magazine, on the French station Canal+, on American TV, NPR, the game’s trapped Amanda Palmer, Jhonen Vasquez (creator of Invader Zim), Ron Gilbert (creator of the original Monkey Island games). It’s been played at least once in every country the world over.

I am in love with the hardcore fans of The Dark Room. They are the 0.44% who completed the demo when it first came out. Some people love the puzzles, some people love the humour, some people want to murder my enormous floating head. Of course, they all have one thing in common, don’t they?

THEY ARE TRAPPED IN A DARK ROOM.  And there is a new way out, but I’m not telling.”

@Robbotron

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There have been a record-breaking 730 entries for the increasingly prestigious Amused Moose Laugh Off contest’s talent search which has trawled the UK and Ireland to discover comedy’s brand new comic gems.

Come along to talent spot and vote, alongside a panel of comedy industry professionals, for the undiscovered stars of the future amongst six breakthrough comedians in each semifinal on Saturday 5, 12 & 19 May 2012 at AmusedMoose LaughOff 2012 semifinals in association with 2entertain, in this fantastic shop window of new talent.

5 May: 

Barry Ferns, Dane Baptiste, Elinor Lawless, Lucy Beaumont, Richard Todd and Tom Toal

Compere: Mark Dolan

Special Guest: Joe Lycett

12 May:

Aisling Bea, Funmbi, James Loveridge, Mike Shephard, Toby Brown and Will Seaward (joint North of England winner)

Compere: Mark Dolan

Special Guest: Hal Cruttenden

19 May:

Clint Edwards, Dogshit Johnson (Scotland winner), Foil Arms & Hog (Ireland winners), Liz Richardson, Matthew Giffen and Ruth E Cockburn (joint North of England winner).

Compere: Mark Dolan

Special Guest: Ben Norris

Doors open at 7.30pm at AmusedMooseSoho, Moonlighting Nightclub, 17 Greek Street, W1D 4DR arriving by 8pm for a guaranteed seat.

Tickets: £8 on 0207 287 3727 or book online at www.amusedmoose.com/shows

Tubes: Leicester Square (+ Tottenham Court Road & Piccadilly Circus)

The sponsorship underlines Foster’s long term commitment to discovering and developing up and coming comedy talent.

So You Think You’re Funny? is the leading amateur comedy competition in the UK and has seen the likes of Peter Kay, Lee Mack, Sarah Millican, Johnny Vegas, Dylan Moran and Jack Whitehall as winners and finalists in previous years. The 2012 competition will start on 21st May 2012 with the first regional heat in London and the final being held at The Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Festival in August.

“Foster’s and So You Think You’re Funny?  is a great fit and we are very excited about the new partnership. We share the same values of developing the best up and coming talent in the comedy industry and we believe our latest comedy collaboration will provide the perfect foundations for a wider talent support network in the future.” - Niall McKee, Brand Manager, Foster’s

 “We are particularly excited in this our 25^th year of the competition and believe that Foster’s and Gilded Balloon together can discover and nurture the comedy greats of tomorrow!”  - Karen Koren, director of The Gilded Balloon

For more news, visit comedyblogedy.com/news

The Gents will lead a guided tour of the museum, bringing their trademark combination of light hearted silliness and drum-tight writing to one of the capitals most beloved cultural centres.

The comedic duo will explore some of the Museum’s best known attractions with reverence, care and a healthy amount of ill informed rambling. The tour will be family friendly, respectful in tone and be extremely silly, as you would expect from two idiots attempting to examine thousands of years of history in just twenty minutes.

The Gentlemen of Leisure’s tour of The British Museum is the first event of its kind in the world, and hopefully won’t be the last.

The Gentlemen Of Leisure

The Gentlemen of Leisure (the old GOL) consist of Nish Kumar and Tom Neenan, two young men who devour books and drink paint.  These pillars of the Parthenon of culture invite you to join them as they seek out fine arts, fine living and fine-r things.  The Gentlemen first wrote and performed together whilst at university, as members of the critically acclaimed Durham Revue.  Edinburgh veterans and circuit regulars, the old GOL are one of the most talented and intelligent acts in the UK.

Nish Kumar is a regular on the stand-up comedy circuit, having earned a reputation for being ‘one of the most exciting comedians around’ – Josie Long.

Tom Neenan is a regular writer for BBC radio comedy, having most recently written on The News Quiz, The Now Show and Newsjack.  

In the next year, Monster Comedy will be doing two things: raising money for deserving causes through regular comedy nights and putting on ad hoc innovative comedy events, just for the fun of it all.

Friday 20th April, British Museum (meet at Info desk in Great Hall)

Tours start at 6pm, 6.45pm & 7.30pm. Tours last half an hour, and it’s free!

Tickets