The Stand Comedy Club Newcastle
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If you’re a young person living in or around Newcastle, you’ve probably done the whole pre-drinks> clubs> kebab> home> hangover thing hundreds of times. So why not try a different type of night out- something a little more cultured and memorable than throwing up on the dance floor in Sinners.
The Stand Comedy Club in Newcastle has live comedy every day of the week and the line ups include some real famous faces including Sarah Millican, Kevin Bridges and Jason Byrne. To make sure everyone has a good and uninterrupted night, there are a few house rules (no chatting, buy drinks at intervals etc) that prevent any bother or disruption.
The 24-26th of August show, presented by Tony Jameson, featured comedians Gary Little, Diane Spencer, Kevin Shephard and Neil Harris, and honestly, it was better than any other stand-up comedy I’ve seen in arenas or on TV. There’s a type of freedom allowed to stand-up comedians who perform to small, private audience than there is with larger scale comedians. For one, they can be a lot ruder, talk about adult topics and use more explicit language when they have a smaller audience. Also, they can interact a lot more with hecklers and anyone else in the crowd with much more ease.
Host Tony Jameson was very witty and quick when it came to interacting with the audience and he made sure everyone was suitably hyped before each act. Because of the size of the venue, no one was safe from Jameson’s ridicule. The Comedy Club room is tiny and sits no more than about 60 people. The front few tables are in fact touching the stage so of course, everyone who sat there (by choice or because there was nowhere safer to sit) was targeted at least once. On that note, if you don’t want to run the risk of having the mick taken, The Stand may not be for you.
The actual comedians didn’t interact with the crowd too much- they just got on with their actual performances and didn’t encourage much audience participation.
All of the acts were brilliant but Neil Harris was the star of the night. His piece on how stressful ordering a sandwich at Subway is, had the entire room dying with laughter as everyone can draw parallels with their own awkward first time at Subway. Through clever maths, he managed to work out the total number of different sandwich varieties possible at Subway- all in his dry and monotonous style.
For the very reasonable price of £7 (prices vary depending on which night you go/concessions), you get two hours of the best comedy that you can’t watch anywhere else. For anyone fancying a proper night out, ditch the clubs and go to The Stand.