WIN FREE TICKETS TO 3 GIGS to celebrate our first birthday!

We're back, y'all - and it's party time!!

Leicester Comedy Scene is now officially one year old (woohoo!) and so, suitably rested from the festival and in the mood for a celebratory comedy binge, we have not one, not two, but THREE SETS OF TICKETS to be won in our 'Official Leicester Comedy Scene Birthday Ticket Giveaway Bonanza'!
OK, so it could do with a snappier title. And I need to use fewer exclamation marks. No sod it - I'm allowed to 'cause I'm excited...(!)
Ahem. Read on, comedy fans...

Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year - finalists announced

The excitement is growing as festival time draws ever closer. Today, the finalists have been announced for one of the most prestigious awards in comedy. Every year, the cream of the country's up-and-coming stand-ups compete for the title of Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year as part of Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival.

The 8 finalists have been hand-picked by some of the country's top comedy promoters, and will each perform a set at The Y Theatre on Saturday, February 23, hoping the competition will be a stepping stone to stardom, as it was for previous winners Rhod Gilbert, Johnny Vegas, Mitch Benn, Seann Walsh and Jason Manford.

REVIEW: Christmas, Stokes et al delight a packed Y Theatre

The Y Theatre was pleasingly packed for Bottle Rocket Comedy Club's second line-up this month. Clearly their ploy of offering a number two-for-one tickets worked well, as the extra bodies provided a wealth of atmosphere that the previous night had been sometimes lacking.

Even so, compere Fergus Craig's audience banter fell a little flat to begin with, but to be fair he wasn't exactly given gold dust to work with. He justifiably mocked Leicester's comedy-goers as not being exactly rock'n'roll, after talking to an IT guy and an accountant. Craig was, despite the slow start, an entertaining host for the evening, more so when he was doing his own material - he is particularly skilled in his use of accents and made the most of this, combining German words with Glaswegian diction to produce the scariest sounding accent ever. Another high point was his incredibly showy, hip-hop entrance after the interval, which he followed up with some gentle mockery of Flavor Flav's autobiography, which was warmly received.

The first act, Vikki Stone, delighted the audience with her bawdy songs, over-expressionate features and musical theatre-style voice. Whilst her largely relationship- and sex-based subject matter was pretty lowest common denominator, it was presented in a very likeable way and despite some very clever lines, the biggest laughs were inevitably produced by the dirtier material. Songs such as "I Need a Dildo" and an epic yet filthy ode to Phillip Schofield drew big applause, but my own personal favourite was her final song, which primarily consisted of her singing the theme tune to Jurassic Park over and over again in tribute to a former lover. Doesn't sound that funny in writing but the sheer randomness of it certainly tickled me...

Next up was rising local star Chris Stokes. His vulnerable, geekish persona combined with a very relaxed style and understated, often deadpan delivery went down a storm with the crowd. His style is becoming ever more natural and less deliberately slow (a-la-Stewart Lee), and his appeal seems to be growing as a result. His material was accessible and anecdotal, but it's that understated, slightly apologetic delivery which adds extra comic weight to often quite simple jokes. Fresh from winning Best Show at February's Comedy Festival, this is one act which seems clearly destined for bigger things. Good luck, sonny boy...

Headlining the evening was larger-than-life kiwi Jarred Christmas. With the audience nicely warmed up, his mix of brash yet tongue-in-cheek self-confidence, skewed observations and local references provided a suitably bombastic finish to the evening. Christmas is loud and likeable, cheeky and clever, and is able to ad-lib with the audience or on his own with great aplomb. His quick-witted interactions with the crowd left one wishing perhaps that he had been the compere and Fergus Craig had been one of the acts. In fact, as if to reinforce this perception, Fergus had actually left the building by the end of the show, leaving Jarred to wrap the show up in his usual excitable style.

And if you're at all curious to know what comedy's headline performers like to do after a show in Leicester, we caught Jarred and Chris legging it out of the Y to go and catch the late showing of Avengers Assemble at the Showcase. So now you know.

Two-for-one tickets for Jarred Christmas, Chris Stokes etc at The Y

This Saturday sees the next Bottle Rocket Comedy night at The Y Theatre, featuring loveable kiwi Jarred Christmas, who can often be seen brightening up panel shows on TV, compering events such as The Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year, or confusing us in the odd Pot Noodle advert. Also on the bill are Hinckley's own deadpan star Chris Stokes (winner of Best Show at this year's comedy festival); Vikki Stone, the comic songstress with an unhealthy obsession for Philip Schofield; and award-winning actor and stand-up Fergus Craig. For more information go to http://www.leicesterymca.co.uk/y-theatre-whats-on-details.php?listing=1074 and to get your two-for-one tickets for only a fiver each, call The Y's Box Office on 0116 2557066 quoting offer code LC01.

REVIEW: Helm and Alderton shine at the Y Theatre

Saturday 14th April 2012: Fresh from their triumph at being named Best Promoter at this year's Comedy Festival awards, Bottle Rocket Comedy presented their first line-up of the new season at the Y Theatre last night, and I think it's fair (albeit massively clichéd) to say it was a game of two halves.

To begin with, the audience were reasonably reluctant to get involved and compère Ed Gamble may have struggled if it weren't for Ann from Fleckney, who proved to be a constant goldmine of  'isn't she posh and bonkers?' laughs during the evening, although her willingness to talk at length to the compère did begin to grate with some audience members after a while.

First act Pat Cahill delivered some very inventive material from a brain that is clearly adept at sideways thinking, and some of his darker material, whilst not to everyone's taste, drew pockets of heavy laughter from certain areas of the room.

Next up was Roisin Conaty, whose 'chatty girl down the pub' persona and fairly standard observational material never really got the audience going. She seemed at times painfully aware of this on stage, making references to her sweating and occasional stuttering, and failing to engage the audience in any particularly successful banter. Nonetheless, some of her observations were very well received and she ended her set strongly with the 'porn tape' anecdote, leaving the stage to warm applause.

It seemed clear that the audience had come mainly to see the final two acts. First on after the interval was Nick Helm, who was as disturbingly brilliant as always. He simply doesn't let the crowd be placid, and forces them to take part by shouting very loud threats at them until they do his bidding. This proved to be a winning tactic, as his unique combination of bitterness, bad one-liners delivered with gusto, enforced singalongs and uncomfortably intimate audience interaction had the crowd regularly hooting uncontrollably.

And finally there was headliner Terry Alderton, who was.... erm.... um...
It's difficult to find words that can fully express the bizarre mixture of voices, sounds, facial expressions and movements that is Terry Alderton. His set was like a fever dream, flitting unpredictably and non-sequentially from wordless opera to reverse midget-walking, through talking shoes and Formula One noises, 'pilled-up' dancing and self-deflation. Baffling and edgy, Alderton is clearly a massive talent - a master of physical comedy, expressions and accents, and able to self-criticise and ad-lib during the set without losing the momentum of the show. Some will be put off by the sheer randomness of his act, but those who like to embrace the chaos will want to see him again and again.

The next Bottle Rocket event at The Y is on Saturday 28th April, headlined by Jarred Christmas - for details and tickets, go to this bit of the web: http://brcomedy.com/events/

Need cheering up? Try hitting the Bottle (Rocket)

Hahaaa do you see what I did there? It sounded like I was advocating alcoholism as a cure for depression!. Outraaaaageous. I should be on Mock the Week or something.

Ahem... Continuing my round up of excellent upcoming comedy in Leicester, I now turn my attention to Bottle Rocket, Leicester's longest-running comedy club. Based at a number of venues around the city and beyond, they've been putting on fantastic shows since 2005 featuring many big names, and it seems this year is no exception.

Their next show is on Saturday April 14th at the Y Theatre, and features the rock-solid line-up of Rufus Hound, Nick Helm, Tom Rosenthal, Pat Cahill and Ed Gamble.

Upcoming shows this year feature the likes of amiable kiwi Jarred Christmas, Peep Show's very own sweet little songbird Isy Suttie, the weird and wonderful Phil Nichol, Show Me the Funny series winner Pat Monahan and storyteller-par-excellence Rob Rouse.

As always, check the website for info, tickets & associated shizzle http://brcomedy.com/events/

And don't forget to drink lots of booze.