Comedy can be hit or miss at times, and believe it or not, not everyone likes it! Or so I found out when I tried to organise a Works night out a few years ago!
Alan: I’m trying to organise a night to [insert closed down comedy club here] and I’m looking for numbers. Dave, what do you recon?
Dave: Hmmm. I’m not sure! It’s not really my sort of thing!
Alan: What! You don’t like laughing!
And with that we didn’t have a staff night out and I learned my Brother doesn’t like laughing! I on the other hand love a good laugh. Sometimes I induce an asthma attack from laughing so hard. Which is where some of the subjectivism of comedy comes in. What I find hilarious you might find offensive! Or your snorting with laughter, when I merely smile.
Jason Cook’s Comedy Club
From out of nowhere Cat suggested we go to Jason Cook’s Comedy Club at the Custom’s House in South Shields. I had not celebrated my birthday as such 2 days earlier, so this was the night out.
Cat rang up to book the tickets and there wasn’t many seats left. All seats were £9 which isn’t bad, for a night out. Our seats were in the Circle 2 rows from the back. Basically nearly the highest seating in the Customs house, unless they have spare chairs in the attic space. Saying that it wasn’t an issue and it sort of took the pressure off, being at a Comedy Club. From our past experience being with in eyeshot of the Comedian, your potential bait for a public spanking. Being up at the back meant it was simply a sit back and relax location.
The set up or our night was accidentally impressive. A Musical stage show had just finished it’s run at the Customs house, but the stage set hadn’t been removed. So instead of the usually sparkly star curtain, it looked like a working mens club with a bingo machine in the middle of the stage.
Jason being the host for the night introduced us to 3 acts and a North East News sketch, but also glued the sections together with his hilarious banter. Not only did we gain an insight into his recent holiday visit to an Owl and Hawk show, but found out he has a selection of mushrooms in his garden.
(This is a photo of an actual mushroom I removed from my garden last year!)
The Line up
The first Act was Andy Askins, a mild-mannered bloke with a guitar. He was brilliant. Totally up my line of comedy. His set up was slightly nerdy, with a guitar just for show to add intrigue. Without spoiling his routine, I don’t want to say too much as, part of his impact was the surprise element!
Next up was Julian Lee, the mysterious uncle that has all the best jokes. I mean real jokes! Julian could write a stocking filler book to keep me entertained till New year. Again I don’t want to spoil his set, but as he posted this on Twitter, I’ll share a joke he used in the set. He also posts jokes regularly on twitter so if you’re looking for a laugh follow 
Next up was the North East News Sketch, with a special news section of the Smorf News featuring Steffen Peddie in full Smurf costume including the Blue Skin. Jason reported how the North east are bidding to host the Olympics, but with a Geordie twang. Firstly renaming it to the Urlympics. This reminded me of the Ashington accent jokes Brendan Healy used to do.
Final act for the night was Sean Collins, a Canadian comedian, whose lived in the UK for 12 years. Now I’m not getting countryist here, but every time I’ve been to a comedy club there has always been a Canadian comedian. I’m not complaining, as Sean had a hilarious set that Catherine was nearly drooling with laughter. The set was so well received that he came back on for an encore! I’ve never seen this happen before.
We had a great night out at Jason Cook’s Comedy Club and look forward to coming back in the future.
For more information visit http://www.jasonscomedyclub.co.uk/
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