Last Blizzard of the year already! Where has the time gone. Certainly not into preparing my set, that’s for sure.
But regardless of however typically shambolic your beloved genderqueer compere is, this was a banger of a line-up to leave the year on.
First, we had the returning Sinead Walsh, who’s just a complete natural on stage, full of earnest glee at just getting to be on stage and share their life and jokes with us, and delivered 20 minutes of engaging, stellar queer comedy. Naturally our delightfully gay audience lapped it all up.
Sinead is a pro many in the industry are sleeping on. I strongly advise everyone to get on board early while they’re still playing lil indie gigs like ours and affordable to see. They’ll be selling out theatres in no time at this rate.
Next up we had another returning fave Justina Seselskaite – whose darkly comedic cheek catches rooms off guard every time and leaves the room in delightful hysterics from start to finish. Even in a short 10-minute set (which I suppose is the standard length for a 10-minute set, shut up) Justina’s stage time is packed with witty comedic deconstructions and sharp punchlines, making her a surefire rising star in comedy. Anyone who’s seen her work knows how brilliant she is, so if you haven’t, what are you waiting for?
After Justina we had an act who’s making her debut at Blizzard and someone I’ve been excited to platform for a while, Charlotte Cropper. Another part of a cohort of comedians proving that Gen Z are infinitely better than any millennial like myself could ever hope to be, Charlotte has a bouncy and friendly stage presence that makes you feel like her bestie when you’re in the audience with her. Charlotte’s set brims with creative ideas and a stripped back casual delivery brings you on board with it all. One of those comedians who makes the art look easy until you try to replicate it. Great joke writer, great storyteller, all around great comic.
And closing the show we had an old mate of mine from the London open mic days, Don Biswas. Don makes his niche known straight away, a neurodivergent, disabled man of colour who’s quite possibly one of the best gagwriters since Milton Jones. Every line is deliberate, everything out of his mouth is so polished, and whether he’s tackling difficult political conflicts, or discussing his own experiences navigating life as himself, he extracts the comedy from any idea with pinpoint precision every time, and such a tight economy of words that you’ve barely time to recover from the last punchline before the next one hits you.
Don Biswas has always been brilliant, and it’s so good to see him continually push his creative and joke writing limits. Everyone on this bill tonight deserves to be huge, and Don is already well on his way, so catch him as soon as you can so you can be that smug prick who said you saw him before he was on every satirical TV show in the country.
What an end to a year of brilliant line-ups even by this shows excellent standards. I’m not going to win the humble awards anytime soon, but I am immensely proud of the shows we’ve been able to put on this year. Despite a couple of setbacks, we’re constantly getting feedback from acts and audience alike at how much they love our little weird angry comedy club and the community of people involved.
So, a huge thank you to every single act we’ve had on our stage this year, everyone who’s helped out with the running of the show, Scarlett, Kirstie, Michael, Andrew, Joe, Roo, Ros, Victoria, Skelly, Cam, and anyone else I’ve forgotten!
And most of all a big thank you to you, if you’re reading this especially indicative of how much you support us, but even if you just came to one of our shows in May and had a wonderful time, if you’ve donated on patreon every month this year, or if you’ve just tuned into the occasional livestream. It’s a cliché, but Blizzard is nothing without the people involved, and that includes at every level, including the audience. You make this club as much as, if not more than, the acts or any of us who run it, and I owe you all so much. I love you all, and have a wonderful December period, whatever you decide to do with it in this bastard weather and see you all in the new year ❤
If you want to catch this show it will be streaming on twitch.tv/blizzardcomedy at 11/12/2023 at 7:00pm GMT and be available to watch for 14 days after.
For information about our upcoming live shows please visit our page on Outsavvy: https://www.outsavvy.com/organiser/blizzard-comedy
