Once again, we had a terrific show at Blizzard Comedy on June 10th, featuring a line-up full of first-timers to Blizzard live and a headliner we’d been trying to get booked for years.
Our first main Blizzard show since the announcement of the July 4th General election, and last until that date, this could very well be the last show we do with a Tory Government. Certainly for a long time. And even better than that, it’s Pride month! So celebratory vibes all around.
Unfortunately, I had forgotten it was Pride month when I was booking acts for this particular show. But fortunately all the best comedians are queer anyway, so I ended up booking an 80% queer line-up purely by accident, so no harm done.
And after myself, the second one of those queers was Gareth Williams.
Gareth is a darling of the Birmingham queer comedy scene. He is immensely camp, witty, and delightful to watch on stage. Gareth really taps into a particular kind of queer sensibility that is captivating to witness, relatable on pure vibes if not literal experience, and outrageously hilarious. This all makes him a brilliant act to open the show and get the crowd warmed up.
Next, we had Jane Postlethwaite, an incredibly tight performer, weaving in slightly dark twists and takes on relatable observations and commentary, resulting in a comic who earns the respect and enjoyment of comedy nerds and casual fans alike. Jane is a superbly capable performer who can hold any audience in the palm of her hands. She is accessible enough to keep newer or more casual fans on board but with a unique creative twist that also wins over the niche comedy nerds that make up our regular audiences.
From her experiences growing up in the Lake District, leading to jokes about murder and ghosts, to discovering her queer identity off the back of the Covid vaccine, Jane combines and jumps between topics in unpredictable ways that keep you on your toes and in hysterics throughout. A world class performer from every angle, well worth a watch.
Jane was a tough act to follow, but Mia Lewis absolutely held her own as one of the stand-out comedians we’ve had on any line-up, let alone this one.
Mia delivers her punchlines with an awkward, slightly deadpan energy, contrasting with the sheer absurdity of her comic mind. Mia crafts intensely surreal comic conceits and effortlessly ingrains them with traditional punchline writing. If Jane appeals to a broad audience with by taking an accessible style and pushing the creative boundaries within the comedy angles, Mia achieves the same effect but from the complete opposite direction. A truly weird and out-there comic set with such well-crafted and technically brilliant jokes that even if you’re struggling to get on board with the style, you will find yourself laughing along with the rest.
Mia is one of those acts with set pieces that you will remember long after seeing them. I don’t want to spoil them here, but she’s an act who even if you forget her name, you won’t ever forget the routines she delivers. Every segment is so immaculately crafted in physicality, delivery and foundational writing, that whatever line-up she is on she raises the bar tenfold or more. A true comic legend in the making, and a reminder of just how exciting comedy can be, to even the most jaded of comedians and comedy fans decades into the game.
Closing the show, we had a long-time friend of the livestreams and a local legend of the circuit who I’ve been trying to book for years. David Stanier is hard to pin down as a comedian, serving as both a pastiche of a stand-up but also a sincerely brilliant act to boot. David is one of the greatest joke writers I’ve ever seen, somewhere between a Mitch Hedberge-sque alternative anti-jokester or a Milton Jones tight-knit one-line merchant, but through the craft of absurdist millennial internet humour.
David manages to tell jokes in a way that are both impossible to predict, and yet once told feel like the only possible way that joke could’ve ended. He is making new comedy conventions with every punchline, but you don’t even notice until you sit down to analyse it after the fact because you’re far too busy crying with laughter at his properly entertaining set and stage presence.
David is just one of those acts who is funny as fuck, pure and simple. No matter how many times I see him perform, he will manage to tickle me to hysterics in entirely new ways, even if it’s the exact same set I’ve seen twice. They’re the kind of jokes that are funny on the surface, but on second and third listens, still present new dimensions and questions that, if anything, make them even funnier on repeat listens. A hard feat for any comedian, and David’s set is full of them.
Just honestly one of the funniest comedians I’ve ever seen, and it was a joy to have him on our stage finally.
And that was the show! What a great one, I’m proud of us. If you want to catch up on the streamed version of the show, you can see that via our Twitch from Monday 17th June for 17 days from 7:30pm
And if you want to attend any of our future shows you can see what we have tickets available for via our OutSavvy.
Blizzard Comedy 