Contributed by Jaycie Grace Collins.
Oh god, what a day. I’m still hungover somehow despite it being both 3 days later as I’m writing this, and I didn’t even drink.
The idea to do an all-day show came from wanting to try something new with how we do preview shows, which have historically been fairly modest audiences, but also to more accurately mirror the festival experience for both audiences and acts. We wanted to offer audiences a little taster of the wonderful unmatched atmosphere of a comedy festival, and let acts hone their shows in a context a bit more similar to a festival context.
Also, ngl, I just thought it’d be fun to try an all-day festival, and I’d wanted to for a while, so here we are.
Self-indulgence aside however, I never dreamed it would be as much of a success as it was. All 6 shows had decent-to-packed lively rooms, it was the closest to profitable for me personally this show has ever been, and the bucket split for the rest was way better than I had managed their expectations to be, and more to the point every single show was brilliant, creative, and hilarious, even after 6 hours of live comedy.
We started with Leslie Ewing-Burgesse, whose preview will appeal to the online millennial generation. It’s a whimsical insight into the strange experience of receiving the emails for a stranger by mistake, and the little window into their life that offers. Leslie’s humour will resonate with anyone on the internet in the early 2000s, as she channels a Dave Gorman-esque tale of technology quirks and the impact it has on the human experience in the 21st century. Despite being so early in development, it is jam packed with gags and set pieces and a hook that drags you along for the ride out of sheer intrigue at this ultimately inconsequential yet weirdly profound experience.
Leslie’s show already has the bones of a viral stand-up special, and I can’t wait to see how it develops and performs at actual festivals when ready.
Next we had James Ross return for more of his vibes-based Guess Who? What more is there to say about the format that I haven’t talked about already in previous write ups?
It is a timelessly interactive experience and by far the most packed the room was for any of our shows, despite how upsettingly humid and sticky it was in the room in the wet summer heat. James regales us with increasingly niche personality vibe questions and joke setups, of varying levels of complexity, keeping it flexible and adaptable to players of various skill levels and engagement.
I don’t think we had a single winner this time, but that is part of the fun. Who knew a room full of strangers making irrelevant snap judgements about what you reckon each other are like based on absolutely nothing reliable or concrete would be so charming as a format? Well…James evidently.
It is just this game for an hour, but despite that it remains entertaining throughout. James expertly peppers running gags and friendly crowd work during the whole runtime ensuring it never becomes stale, and bringing the room together despite being made up of, unusually for us, so many groups who did not know each other and having a fantastic time invested in this silly little game together. The show concluded with a very fun involved game of chess nested in the format of the show, that quickly descended into absurdity, and was a fantastic cap to a fantastic hour, and one of the most fun new bits of interactive comedy I have ever experienced.
If that wasn’t enough absurd whimsy for you, Eryn Tett followed it up in droves. Eryn is one of my favourite comedians of all time, being both an incredible joke writer and one of the most creative performance artists working in comedy today. Eryn’s shows that I’ve seen craft around some very distinct conceptual hooks, and this one was no different – structuring the show as a fine dining experience for all senses (except taste).
This is a really clever way to take a fairly traditional stand-up show structure, but add her delightful trademark surrealism to add additional atmosphere and leave a lasting impression of each segment that made up the experience.
Even the sections that were fairly standard joke formats (at least by her standards) were enhanced by an ambient soundscape that puts me a little in mind of how Jam adds unsettling texture to its comedy with instrumentals underscoring the entire thing, although far less…upsetting than that show can often be.
And because it’s Eryn, the show is full of segments that completely deviate from anything you’d expect at a comedy show, interacting with the audience in ways that really keeps everyone in the moment and feeling a part of the show. Eryn isn’t just performing a set at you, she’s performing with you, but in ways that are very low stakes on the part of the audience so don’t let that put you off if you’re anxious about that kind of thing.
Without wanting to spoil the big showstopper at the end, in case you get a chance to see this show for yourself, it’s one of those classic comedy moments that I just cannot even begin to conceive the development of. The kind of out-there routine that fucking kills in our room and makes me so proud of us. It didn’t take long for everyone to get on board with a bit that can be charitably described as “strange”. We all committed to the bit as much as, if not more than, Eryn herself, and that curated an energy of pure elation for reasons I genuinely couldn’t explain to you if I tried.
Eryn is really good at not just writing a good comedy show, but facilitating humour into the room and guiding an audience into having a uniquely batshit comedy experience, if they lean into the show with an open mind. Enjoyment of any comedy show is quite dependent on an audience’s willingness to let the experience wash over them and engage with it, but Eryn pushes that artistic overton window to extremes. When you’re in a room like Blizzard, typically fully of the sort of people who are always up for this kind of thing, you get a borderline magical time far beyond anything I think anyone was expecting that morning when they were preparing for six hours of live comedy.
I want a neat way to wrap up this section but it’s so hard to communicate what a vibe her entire show was. Eryn embodies the “you HAD to be there” descriptor in comedy. Truly a must see for any comedy enthusiast or curious.
After that we had a nice extended beak to get out of that room, because fuck me it got STEAMY. And not in the sexy way, it’s always like that.
Then we had Hannah Platt, an act who goes from strength to strength every time I see her. From seeing her hone her debut over the earlier half of the decade to now she’s become by far one of the most polished comedians I’ve ever had the pleasure to see. Second shows are famously one of the most difficult to create as they rely on new material and concepts, while also holding onto whatever interested people in your first show. Hannah however seems to have thrived with this, building on the themes of mental health, self-esteem and image in the her first show, but with a nice new throughline exploring cult mentality and history. This pleasantly balances the introspective with a niche topic interest tied in, giving the show already a distinct sense of identity.
The show is packed full of sharp gags and engaging musings about herself, fame, potential, therapy, and more, all the good shit that our audience really resonates with, and you will too if you’re reading this blog willingly. If you’re not already following Hannah then you’ve not been paying attention, fix that now, she’s a phenomenal comic.
Our penultimate show came from Cameron Sinclair Harris, who brought us one of the most dramatic and theatrical shows I’ve seen in a very long time. I got to see a little bit of her last show when we did a split in Nottingham, and I was furious at how fucking good it was. Cameron is just one of those performers who makes crafting comedy concepts look effortless, which does a disservice to the amount of work that’s clearly gone into them.
But what do you mean your debut show is a one-person character-based cabaret performing as personifications of all the planets of the solar system? That’s so fucking good as a concept and as a performer she elevated it even higher than it sounds on paper alone.
I cannot stress enough how hard it is for me to even come up with a show concept that sounds good on paper, let alone deliver it so that it doesn’t just live up to it, but exceeds it. Cameron is a comedian who I think no matter how successful and beloved she gets (and I hope very), she will always be underrated, as I don’t think her talent and artistry can ever fully be conceived by mere mortal souls.
Anyway, this show, and I mean as a compliment, feels like something devised by someone who studied drama and performing arts. If you were going to bring back the comedy degree I studied at Salford, this performance here would be the gold standard as practical assessments go. The show focuses on the character of the Bride, on her wedding day, waiting to marry her beloved Nathaniel – who sadly never shows up. Throughout, the bride is grappling with the ever-dawning realization that he’s not coming, and she’s been jilted, and you get a fascinating character examination that makes you want to cry almost as much as she makes you laugh.
I don’t want to go into too much detail or spoil all of the fantastic set pieces, but it has everything you want from a fringe comedy show. Strong concept, really fun character/persona for the performer, involving the audience passively in the show conceptualising them as wedding guests, and even giving some assigned characters to ensure that every performance goes slightly differently. Integrated sound and music cues add an extra dimension to the performance. Strong themes, recurring gags and callbacks, and a great 45-minute mark speech underlining some of the deeper contextual commentary the show is making about the trans experience. And a performer who sells all of that perfectly, willing to throw herself into the role, and get to a point where she’s having full on breakdowns in character outside of the main venue space, to I assume the bafflement of the people in the pub.
This is the kind of comedy show that I think should be studied academically and would’ve inspired me to start trying to write comedy if I didn’t already do that. Incredibly strong, and with a little more polish and tightening up I think should be award worthy.
And finally, we had Sam Serrano close the show with their show Mars. Sam is a really interesting comedian for me, as they’re one of the few queer comics I know who in my experience play really well with more cishet clubby audiences, but without sacrificing or making themself or their queer identity the butt of the joke.
What’s more than that, they’re a comedian who can play most rooms I can conceive of to a high standard. I am definitely not a crossover comedian. I play to my echo chambers, and to isolated queer folk who want to feel seen and safe. Sam plays to them as well, but also I think to…maybe not the out and out homophobes, but certainly audiences less familiar or less exposed to queer culture. That’s a really cool spot to occupy both as a comedian and specifically a queer one.
Their show is structured around a homophobic hate crime they experienced, and in a broader sense their own relationship and experience with queerness and how that affects the perception of them in this job. It’s a mesmerising story, even as someone who has similar fears and experiences, they deconstruct some of the causes of homophobia in a way that is unapologetically them as well as being mature and empathetic. Even as someone very comfortable and out with my queerness, parts of the show genuinely moved and inspired me to love and be comfortable in my authentic self more.
I couldn’t tell you for sure how cishet audiences would react to this show – but it feels like a show that has potential to reach across certain barriers of ignorance if not outward hate. It has the potential to be educational as well as entertaining to those who need educating, and empowering as well as entertaining to those who need empowering.
The show is named after and heavily references a Yungblud song, who is something of a queer idol for them. It’s apt as Sam, as a comedian and especially in the context of this show, I can already see being well on the way to being a similar figure, and a comforting public presence to the next generation of queer kids and young adults. Or even older adults who haven’t been able to safely come out yet.
I feel like I’m focussing too much on the wholesome queer angle because of who I am as a person, but don’t misunderstand me, the show is also devastatingly good comedy.
Sam has a really strong gag rate, and expertly curates gags and punchlines that play with shock value and dark comedy, but in ways that always make the purpose clear and never feel outside of our vibes. They’re similar to Hannah in this way, another comedian who shows how actually dark comedy can still be done. Anyone who complains that it can’t, or they can’t say anything any more is just bad at it.
Mars was a lovely package of dark comedy, vulnerable introspection, hysterical gags, and a beacon of hope to take away with you, and a fantastic end to this fantastic show experiment.
Phew, writing that all out felt like living through the whole day again. I’m knackered. But each show was so uniquely charming and entertaining that I could never do them justice with a couple of lines for each. I had a fantastic time, I hope you all did too.
We don’t stream these shows as they’re works in progress, but if you’d like to keep an eye out for any future shows/streams we’re doing, follow us on socials and/or join our mailing list here.
We have two more live shows this year, details coming soon!!
Thanks again for all your support, we will definitely do something like this again it was so much fun (but I might book longer off from work, so I have energy again because fuck me I’m dead. Love you all, take care ❤
