8:30pm
Comedy at the Con!
ACTS: Alistair Barrie, Roger Monkhouse, Julia Meyers. MC Neil Masters
Flaming June, here's hoping and here's a flaming great line up. Get an ice cold beer and join us in the cool environs (both literal and metaphorical) of the Con Club, for what promises to be a lot of a giggle, including the welcome return of Alistair Barrie who slayed the room last time, the wonderful Roger Monkhouse and the joyfully odd Julia Meyers.
Alistair Barrie
Comedian, actor and writer Alistair Barrie has been performing all over the world for nearly an entire century (this one). Much in demand as both a headline act and MC, he has performed throughout the UK and Ireland, as well as further afield in the States, Australia, Switzerland, The Netherlands, South Africa, Estonia, Mumbai, Cyprus, Crete, Luxembourg, Bahrain, Qatar, Belgium, Prague, Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Norway, Hong Kong, Macau, Malta, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia and Athens as well as at the world's highest gig on a mountain in France and on a boat in the middle of the North Sea.
Alistair is a member of The Cutting Edge team at London's Comedy Store and has made numerous radio and television appearances across the world. A regular at corporate events and festivals, he has taken five solo shows to the Edinburgh Fringe and written on several shows for the BBC, Channel 4 and Radio 4 and for a number of other comedians. He created and compered 'Bye George,' the comedians' farewell to George W. Bush, which sold out the Southbank's Queen Elizabeth Hall in January 2009. He is presently working on 'No Pressure to be Funny,' a monthly topical show and podcast at the Soho Theatre in in London's West End, with LBC's James O'Brien and former Perrier nominee Nick Revell, which is also being taken to Edinburgh this year for a Festival special in association with Amnesty International. Alistair also regularly reviews restaurants for his Food Ponce blog.
'Excellent' - The Independent
'A class act' - The Scotsman
'Eloquent, slick and dynamic' - Chortle.co.uk
Roger Monkhouse
"his laconic delivery shields an engaging persona and an enquiring mind"
The Guardian
Roger Monkhouse is one of the most original and distinctive acts on the comedy scene. A consummate
stand-up who employs a deadly combination of charm and menace to exert a masterful control over any
audience. A highly original and quirky performer, Roger's trademark stage-prowling style and curious,
inimitable manner have established him as one of the hottest names on the comedy circuit.
Distinguished as a comic by his eloquence and keen eye for a fine phrase, Roger's easy observational
style is spiked by the signal flares of an accomplished gag writer. A supremely confident compere and
seasoned corporate host, Roger is happy to improvise freely with a crowd and is at great ease bantering
with an audience, but has no shortage of first class observational material in his armoury.
As one of the most sought after acts on the comedy circuit, Roger headlines at all the major comedy
venues and has performed extensively throughout the United Kingdom and Internationally, most recently
performing in Belgium, The Netherlands, South Africa, China, Singapore, Tokyo and the Middle East. He
has also featured on major national tours of the UK sponsored by Hooch and J2O.
Recent television credits include 'The Comedy Store' and ‘The World Stands Up’, (both Paramount),
‘My God I’m My Dad’ (Bravo) and ‘Street Cred Sudoku’ (UKG2). He is one of the regular writers on
Channel 4’s hugely popular comedy panel show ‘8 Out of 10 Cats’ - responsible for scripting up-to-theminute topical gags every week for the show which features Jimmy Carr alongside team captains Dave
Spikey and Sean Lock. On the airwaves, he was recently a guest panellist on comedy panel show ‘Jest
A Minute’ (BBC Radio Wales) as well as contributing to review show ‘Serious About Comedy’ (BBC7).
A fine topical writer and performer, and master of sharp observational comedy, Roger is a regular
member of the prestigious and critically acclaimed 'Cutting Edge' team at the London Comedy Store.
He also performed with the Manchester based topical and satirical team 'MEN at Work' at the
Manchester Comedy Store. His forte is delivering intelligent, thought provoking material that pulls no
punches and is always incisive, relevant and up to date. Articulate, quick witted and spontaneous, if
something's in the news, Roger has a routine about it.
Roger's distinctive voice and sharp enunciation make him particularly suited to voice over work. Raised in
Kingston upon Thames, he retains his Estuary drawl and remains untainted by a South Yorkshire accent
despite a decade of living in Sheffield.
Roger is a prolific writer and is currently working on several original ideas for TV and Radio.
Juliet Meyers
“Excellent” Tim Arthur, comedy reviewer TIME OUT
Managing to mix silliness with edginess, Juliet has a chatty style that allows her to interact with the crowd; this makes her much in demand both as a comedian and an MC.
She has been bringing her own brand of hilarious, cerebral, observational, gag –driven, (mostly gender non-specific), comedy to the stage for 7 years.
QUOTES
“Devilish coy look, excellent material with some on the edge gags.” The Scotsman (4 star review )
“Had me in stitches with her witty observations and social judgements.”bbc.co.uk
“You changed our audience’s opinion of female comics. They loved you.”Steve Walker Knuts, Peterborough
“Excellent material. Excellent with the audience” Tim Arthur, Time Out
“laugh- out loud funny, wonderfully bizarre ideas.” Chortle
“a very watchable act with engaging material and some excellent lines.” Silky, Kill for a seat
“Clever material. A female Adam Bloom.” Noel Faulkner, Comedy Café
“Devilishly quick and capable of running with the weirdo in the audience, milking any situation for hilarity.”Edinburgh Evening News
“Stand-up as it should be.” Three Weeks
Juliet is currently working on various comedy radio plays.
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8pm
NEVER THE BRIDE
Never The Bride featuring International music stars Nikki Lamborn and Catherine Feeney, Whos luminous, inspirational, edgy take on Rock N Roll make headlines everywhere.
Bristol-born Nikki Lamborn, an intense singer with radiant charisma is magnificently accompanied by
Glaswegian 'Been' Feeney, gifted on piano, keyboard and guitar. The two have written, recorded and toured internationally for over 25 years, with a band of talented musicians.
They have played with an awe-inspiring Who's Who of music. On one occasion at The Royal Albert Hall in London, Roger Daltrey held up Nikki's band and shouted out, "Nikki Lamborn has the best female rock voice since Janis Joplin and I know what im talking about, i knew Janis."
Never The Bride is noted for their ballsy style of musicianship and vocal powerhouse approach. Their song "The Living Tree" was a hit for Dame Shirley Bassey and they masterminded her memorable Glastonbury appearance and produced her Top Ten UK album 'Get The Party Started'.
BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris calls them "an absolutely brilliant band, one of the best live bands in Britain." London-based, these immensely talented women have written and recorded six albums to date, and their latest CD and DVD, 'In Concert At The Stables' was released September 2012.
All around the world Never The Bride have stunned the rich and famous. The Kennedys, British Rock Symphony Orchestra, a private show for Cher in Malibu, Robert Plant as they perfomed their famous interpretation of his song "Going To California" that won them their first gold disc in United States.
During their recent summer tour of United States, Liza Minnelli came to show her support and was first on her feet leading a standing ovation fo Never The Bride at legendary New York venue Don't Tell Mama
Nikki is also a successful vocal coach, described as "the best i have ever known" by Beverley Knight and "a wonderful person to work with" by Jocelyn Brown. Her incredible voice came under the spotlight while coaching a Cambridge choir-girl in the ways of rock for Channel 4's 'Faking It' series. She also worked as vocal coach on the BBC show 'Just The Two Of Us'
Speaking about their inspiration for songwriting "Well put it this way, you can tell, listening to our lyrics people know we've had a pretty shitty love life," laughs Nikki, "we cant possibly get married, or we'd have to change the name of our band!" Catherine quips, "not that we've been short of offers!"
QUOTES
"Best rock voice since Janis Joplin" (Roger Daltrey)
"Luminous" (Carlos Santana)
"Inspirational" (Dame Shirley Bassey)
"Nikki Lamborn is a wonderful vocalist. Never The Bride are an absolutely brilliant band, one of the best live bands in Britain" (Bob Harris, BBC Radio 2)
"These women exude their souls in their music and lyrics" (Blues In Britain)
"The delicate and sometimes melancholy piano finesse of Catherine Feeney cradles Lamborn’s sweet style throughout." (Sanitarium)
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8:30pm - 11pm
First thursday of the month
Comedy at The Con!
After the total sell out success of our two Henning Wehn Christmas Specials at the end of November, we are delighted to be back in the groove with a terrific line up for our regular first Thursday of the month gig.
ACTS: SEAN COLLINS BOBBY MAIR SIMON MUNNERY MC:NEIL MASTERS
Bobby Mair is a disturbingly exciting new comedian, currently gracing our screens in the
new season of Channel 4’s ‘8 out of 10 Cats’. Canadian born and based in London, bobby is touring his material internationally and is fresh out of the ‘Just for Laughs’ festival.
Driven by a natural flare for comedy, Bobby enrolled at Toronto’s Humber College on their
Comedy Writing and Performance Program, it was 2005 and a star was born! – he dropped out before the year end. Feeling like the course was“too slow” to understand his passion for the darker side of humour, he confidently took himself straight out to the live circuit and didn’t look back.
Sean honed his unique storytelling style over 20 years. In 2000, his hard work and determination led to his receiving two prestigious Canadian Comedy Award nominations for 'Best Male Stand Up' & for his half-hour 'Comic's Comedy Special' on CBC.
In 2002, CTV gave Sean his first hour-long television special as part of their 'Comedy Now' series and, building on this momentum, he performed a
gala set at the Just For Laughs Festival, Montreal in 2003.
With the desire to play to a more universal audience, Sean left Canada for the UK and, within the five years that Sean has resided in Britain, he has written and performed 3 highly successful Edinburgh Festival shows, receiving rare five-star reviews and one of only a few Best of Fest accolades.
Now a headline act firmly established on the UK circuit, Sean has several television credits to his name, including The World Stands Up Special on Comedy Central, The Comedy Store Television Show on Paramount for 2005, 2006 and 2008, and 2010, the second series of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow on BBC1.
Simon Munnery, also known by his stagenames of Alan Parker: Urban Warrior and The League Against Tedium, is an English comedy writer and experimental standup comedian. He performs mainly to an alternative audience but has pierced the mainstream both with his BBC Radio 1 show in 1997 and his BBC2 television series, Attention Scum! in 2001.
Munnery's experimental style is reified through his sartorial appearance: his tragically unfashionable glasses, homemade clothes (or clothes apparently donated to him by comedian Jeff Green), makeshift props, and dramatic facial hair. As 'The League' he often dons a hat crafted from a kettle and one of his standup shows is performed entirely with a metal bucket over his head.
His standup is perhaps best described as often satirical, often political and almost always surreal. Munnery plays harmonica and his dialogue is full of quotable remarks, inviting comparison with Oscar Wilde, ("If you've only ever read one book in your life... I strongly recommend that you keep your mouth shut").
"One of the most original and talented comics in the country" - The Observer
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