What a perfect way to turn 30.
I started this club at the tender age of 23. It’s amazing how in that time we’ve managed to cultivate this wonderful community of comedians and comedy fans and carved a little niche for us away from your more typical comedy clubs.
We were one of the few comedy clubs to properly embrace the online/virtual format during lockdowns and beyond. To this day, we still keep that audience in our mind for all the shows we do by live-streaming recordings of our shows to get as close to the in-the-room experience as possible. We have been cited by at least two different local clubs inspiring them to implement certain aspects of our format/approach to running comedy clubs into their own, which is marvellous. Even little things like asking pronouns becoming more and more of a standard on the local circuit – not a trait we invented but certainly helped popularize it and encouraged others to do the same!
The world has gone downhill a lot since we first started 6 years ago, but it is heartwarming to know that we have contributed just a little bit into making one hyper-specific community a nicer place.
But I digress. Throwing my 30th birthday party as a Blizzard show was the best and worst idea I’ve ever had. Worst, because I chose to WORK on my actual birthday (and lemme tell you in the run up to the show basically everything that could go wrong did, it was not an easy ride). But best because it meant I got to celebrate with some of my favourite people on the circuit and in the community, and, on a self-indulgent level, feel the impact of this cool thing I helped create and build with some of my best friends and just feel important and like I’ve contributed something nice to the city I call home.
And while this show’s line-up looked a lot barer than I had planned due to plenty of understandable dropouts, I still got to celebrate watching some of my favourite ever comedians to work with do what they do best.
We opened with the king of charisma that is Sully O’Sullivan. Sully brings an alternative and punk edge to stand-up comedy about the most mundane of topics and just makes it work. Sully is one of those comedians you can hear talk about literally anything and he’ll find a way to make it funny. How many other comedians can talk about slugs for 4 minutes and end with the most based punk of punchlines possible? Not many.
Sully is a master of his craft and all but guarantees hilarity in any event he’s a part of. I’m always so happy to get to have him back at our club.
Next we had a long-time fave of the club at this point, Saeth Wheeler. Saeth is one of the best comedic narrative weavers I’ve ever worked with. They have a real knack for drilling down into the core of the story/experience they want to tell and turn that into some of the most engaging 10-minute stand-up sets ever performed. If this is how Saeth writes short sets, I can’t wait to see what they can do with an hour.
It doesn’t matter what particular topic or theme they decide to explore, they are guaranteed to craft the definitive set on whatever topic takes their interest and they set their mind to. They’re so cool, I’m so lucky to get to be their friend/have them work for us. Absolute icon.
Next we had Ava Riverside, who always brings something unique and chaotic to the club whenever she performs here. This was no exception. While a bit stripped back compared to some of the tech-heavy stuff at her last performances with us, the creativity and wit that went into the set was still mind-blowing.
Taking a surreal approach to the format and context, framing the set as a robbery with one of the least threatening personas of all time was inspired – and made the cleverly weaved in political commentary and punchlines hit all the harder with our guards down truly not knowing what to expect.
Easily one of the most creative minds crafting comedy today, Ava is bound to be an experience to never forget every time she graces us with her presence on stage.
Next we had Sean Morley – an act who we’ve not had at Blizzard since pre-lockdown days, but one of my absolute favourites. 10 minutes perhaps doesn’t do his weirdness justice, but for those 10 minutes he has you in the palm of his hand with pure comedy art. He’s one of those comedians I try to model myself after, in that they are friendly and welcoming and inclusive to a point that it becomes slightly intimidating. It is a dynamic I really love and very much try to emulate in my own way.
Sean is a real enigma, and no words I can write quite do him justice the way he curates the energy and atmosphere of a room, especially a room like Blizzard who are notorious for their ability to absolutely commit to the bit when asked to do something a bit whimsical.
Sean has the chaos of a clown with the intellect that every 00s atheist comedian thinks they have, except if they used it for good, not just for smugly telling women they’re inferior beings. Sean Morley is one of the greatest comedy practitioners of my lifetime, and I feel privileged to get to exist at the same time as him.
Finally, to close the show, who else but our official mascot – our cishet white male pet: Tony Basnett.
Tony’s been a part of my life for nearly the last 10 years at this point, and he’s gone from being an MC I was slightly intimidated by when I first went to Trapdoor comedy to a man I Lady-and-the-Tramped an off-brand caterpillar cake with on stage to close my birthday show.
Tony is an expert in wit and riding the energy of a room. It is a delight to watch that in a room like Blizzard where we, if anything, have too much energy. A proper brilliant comedic force who kills in any room he performs. Or at least the rooms I’ve seen him in, which I can probably count on one hand, tbf. But if I’m not in the room, does a gig even really matter?
Tony oozes charm – and maybe more than any other comedian gives off the vibe of your mate who’s had too much to drink and gone off on one for the last 10 minutes except you know what, it’s just that funny that none of you actually mind. Which to be fair, probably accurately sums up our friendship ❤
A terrific joke writer, terrific performer, all round top lad. Go see him, u cunts xoxo.
And that was the show! Thank you to all of you for making my 30th birthday a special one, and a huge thank you to Kirstie Summers and Scarlett Blades for helping me run the fucking thing for over half of my twenties. This is now such a huge part of my life, and I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather run it with. Love u both a bunch ❤
If you missed the show,t we attempted to record it and will attempt to stream it on Thursday 7th August at 7:30pm on twitch.tv/blizzardcomedy – although the show was chaotic enough that I’m not sure how much you’ll even process on this format, soz. The VOD will be available for 2 weeks after that date though, so even if you miss the live stream you can catch up at a later date!
Thanks all of you reading, and especially those of you who watch our streams or attend our live shows for helping make this into an actual comedy club and not just a way for me to structure my mental health breakdowns. You’re the best! Sign up to our mailing list and/or follow us on socials to be updated for our next live show: https://linktr.ee/BlizzardComedy (currently booked in for October 16th) – and hopefully see you all soon ❤
