In comedy terms it's been a great year too. 2012 saw the fist Dave-sponsored Leicester Comedy Festival, which was bigger and better than ever (although I'd love to know why more of it didn't appear on the Dave channel itself - maybe next year eh?). It also saw the opening of Just the Tonic, which has provided more comedy shows than any other venue by a country mile this year. Several new local nights have sprung up, proving the scene here to be in a very healthy state indeed, and of course this year saw the birth of a little blog called Leicester Comedy Scene, which tries its very best to bring all those wonderful events together in one place for you to peruse at your leisure, you lucky swines!
So I thought since it's the last day of the year I'd share with you a couple of LCS's highlights of the year (which of course, for this blog began in March - sorry DLCF 2012!)
My show of the year is the one that spurred me on to start up the blog in the first place, and that was Stewart Lee's 'Carpet Remnant World' at De Montfort Hall. I've been a massive fan of Lee ever since his Fist of Fun days, and it was very satisfying to see him back at the top of his game in front of a large, appreciative crowd doing what he does best (insulting them with a wry look on his face). Not bad for a man who quit stand-up in 2001 because he couldn't find an audience. Lee's resurgence is a masterclass for any budding comic in eschewing the mainstream route to success, instead cultivating a loyal audience who really suit his material. I thoroughly recommend reading his book 'How I Escaped My Certain Fate' to find out exactly how he did this. Anyway, it was during the interval of this show back in March that, egged on by my friends Chris, Kate, Kieran and Sharon, I decided I was going to do this blog thingy, and hey presto - here it is!
Of course there have been many memorable shows which I've been lucky enough to see this year which are worth a mention. Just the Tonic have put on some great tour shows by the likes of Daniel Kitson, Doug Stanhope, Paul Foot and Josie Long, and featured many great circuit acts as part of their weekend shows - Ivan Brackenbury/Ian D Montfort, Gary Delaney, Barbara Nice, Reg D Hunter and Rob Deering stick out as some of the best I've seen this year. DLCF 2012 'best promoter' winners Bottle Rocket Comedy Club have put on some great line-ups throughout the year too - my faves have been Pat Cahill/Roisin Conaty/Nick Helm/Terry Alderton and Chris Stokes/Jarred Christmas/Vikki Stone back in April. Other stand-out shows include Isy Suttie at The Y, Rhys Darby at De Montfort Hall, Liam Mullone's Edinburgh warm-up gig at the Guildhall on a Sunday afternoon and Pat Monahan headlining Ship of Fools at the Looking Glass in September. And of course I can't forget the parade of insanity that was "What have you done with Denise's 30p?" at the Cookie Jar last summer.
There have been many personal highlights of the year to choose from as well. Firstly, interviewing the lovely Isy Suttie from Peep Show, who was as warm and sweet as you hope she is in real life. It was great to see Reg D Hunter opening at a packed-out JTT and all the punters staying til the end of the show to see folks they'd never heard of - I felt very proud indeed. Another highlight was meeting local double act and organisers of the regular 'Lions Eat Ice Cream' night Leanne Mckie and Suzanne Rowland. We first met back in April for an 'interview' which turned into a late-night pub quiz session with many silly prizes involved - I've never been quite the same since. Being approached to run my first free ticket offer by Just the Tonic was really exciting too, and led to dozens of punters getting to see a barnstorming set from Barbara Nice absolutely free of charge. More recently, seeing the first LCS article in the Mercury's Culture magazine and my advert in next year's comedy festival brochure gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Mmmmm....
"But what," I hear you snoring, "is your number one moment of the year, Mister Comedy Scene?" Well, for me it has to be the onstage fallout between comperes Ian Hall and Barnaby J Thompson at Lions Eat Ice Cream in October, which led to Ian walking off stage and out of the building, leaving Barnaby in the middle of literally ripping his suit off and throwing bits of it around the room. Of course, this turned out to be a very well executed hoax by the pair, but what made it so convincing was Ian's acting, becoming increasingly irritated by Barnaby's wonderfully erratic and intrusive antics onstage, then keeping up the pretence offstage during the intervals by appearing more and more frustrated and on-edge. Well done to the pair of them - it was a brilliant and memorable stunt, perfectly executed.
Right, that's me done for the year - I've got to have me dinner then get me glad-rags on and head out to the New Year Extravaganza at Just The Tonic, starring Ivan Brackenbury, Adam Bloom, Phil Nicol and Wes Zaharuk. I'll be back very soon with some January listings, but thanks again to all the performers, venues and fans that have made it an absolute cracker of a year in the Leicester comedy scene.
- Paul.
