WELCOME

This blog will give you information about the comedy night held on the first Tuesday of every month. The venue is The Fox & Grapes pub in Fox Street, Preston and is easily accessible by public transport or car. Best of all, admission is absolutely FREE.

The event is compered by MC Alan Donegan (pictured)



We will post pictures of previous evenings as well as details of forthcoming acts. Copyright permitting we may even post short video clips of the performers in full flow.

It would be really helpful if you attend a performance for you to let us know what you thought about the comedians, the organisation, the atmosphere, the venue - even the beer!

The Fox

Tuesday 27 May 2008

More Information on Ivan Brackenbury


We really are very lucky to get Ivan Brackenbury for the next show. Tom Binns was nominated for a Perrier Award at Edinburgh last year and has a wealth of experience in performing, writing and acting.

More information can be read here and here.

The Ivan Brackenbury website is here.


Tuesday 20 May 2008

Rod Shepherd - Conspiracy Theorist



Rod Shepherd, Croydon’s second best conspiracy theorist and ex-cult leader is here to talk to you about the murky world of ‘conspiracies theories’ and to feed you the truth!

You’ve probably heard of the JFK assassination, Roswell & alien autopsies, crop circles, 9:11, the Diana ‘accident’ and global warming.

Are you being brainwashed by your government? Of course you are, wake up, you’re all slaves, being slowly starved by the system.

Don't be Frightened.

Don't be Scared.

Be petrified!

He’s described as David Icke with a splash of Koresh, that’s not an aftershave, that was a mass murderer from Waco, so the FBI said!

“He’s a f**king nuisance” Croydon Metropolitan Police

“He’s stolen my act” David Icke

“Not to be taken seriously” Sutton and Carshalton Times

Jeff Downs is a writer and comedian. He has created several comedy characters such as self-help life-coach Larry Black and appeared in the long running Edinburgh Festival hit sketch show ‘The Bootleg, Bootlegs’. Jeff was a regular contributor as writer and performer to Bob Sinfield's Laughter Zone on 'One Word Radio'. Currently he is collaborating with Alfie Joey on a number of projects which include Spinners, a sketch show for Channel 4 Radio.

"...had some truly great observations, a very likeable character that makes it easy for an audience to follow him on his ever more bizzare course..." CHORTLE.CO.UK

"Seen him twice ... and he's ripped the roof off the building both times." CHORTLE.CO.UK


Jimmy O'Neill


The 35-year-old stand-up from Wigan once supported Bernard Manning and last year appeared on TVs Living with Kimberly Stewart.
Jimmy became disillusioned with stand-up but has now stepped back up to the mic after a series of bizarre video rants on internet site YouTube.

Delivered with a dead pan expression he has an extremely distinct style that is sure to go down well with the Fox and Grapes audience.

Praise For Ivan Brackenbury and Ben Schofield

Ivan Brackenbury:

"Comedy Genius" - CHRIS EVANS

"The funniest thing I've seen in my life." - SIMON BATES

"The precision of the comedy timing was unbelievable it was amazing." - CAPITAL RADIO

"Barrage of cracking jokes” - DAILY TELEGRAPH

“Audience of the verge of being hospitalised with laughter” INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

“Deliciously enjoyable” - THE GUARDIAN

“Funniest Thing I’ve seen on the Fringe” - THE TIMES

“Audiences are laughing their heads off” - METRO

Ben Schofield:

“He is going to be big…he had the audience laughing out loud from the start. Very impressed”. - WWW.CHEEKYCOMEDY.CO.UK


“Ben's loud and remarkably confident personality was a sure winner with the crowd… had the masses rolling out of their seats… a set of brilliant stand up comedy” WWW.BBC.CO.UK

2Impressive…quality material delivered in an animated fashion…took the atmosphere in the place up a gear with a well-paced high energy set with some great punchlines…best act of the night…Ben Schofield rocks!"
WWW.XSMALARKEY.COM

"Noise-merchant…" - WWW.ENTS24.COM

"Never fails to delight…had the crowd in stitches!" WWW.THEHIFICLUB.CO.UK

The Ivan Brackenbury Hospital Radio Roadshow

Ivan Brackenbury is Hospital Radio's Flagship Presenter. He presents his "Disease Hour" every week on Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Hospital Radio. He's also been heard on "Lee and Herring Fist of Fun" on BBC Radio 1, then BBC GLR [now London], XFM and Talksport. Ivan Brackenbury also did a stint as a continuity man on Channel 4's 4Music.

Ben Schofield


Ben Schofield first performed as a comedian in 2001. Hailing from Bradford, he was, from an early age, to foster a keen sense of humour as a simple defence mechanism. His predilection for mirth-making thrives to this day, which, considering he still lives in Bradford, is just as well.

Ever since his first tentative steps into comedy before a home crowd in Bradford he has performed to audience and critical acclaim in venues across the north of England. A dyed-in-the-wool rocker, he has imbued his performances with his rock and roll spirit, producing a dynamic, colourful (and really quite loud) act that is guaranteed to entertain.

In 2002 he reached the televised semi-final of the BBC New Comedy Awards, only for his progress to be hampered by the London audience inexplicably taking objection to having a hairy Northerner shouting at them. Undeterred, he continued to preach his gospel to all who would listen, building a deserved reputation as an exciting and engaging comic performer, whilst vowing never to enter a competition again. Such was the piety with which he upheld this vow that in 2004 he reached the regional finals of the J2O/Jongleurs competition.

A scatologically cerebral comic thinker with a keen eye for the absurd, he boastfully maintains the unique record of being the only comedian in the world (to his knowledge) to have written a joke about galvanising dustbins. This surely stands as a testament to his ability to mine comedy gold from even the most unlikely of seams.

With countless performances in top northern venues, residencies at several established and respected comedy nights (including the Hyena Lounge at The Original Oak, Headingley and the Saturday Session at The HiFi Club, Leeds) and several television appearances (including Stand Up Britain for ITV) already under the considerable girth of his belt, he is all set to ignite a comedy venue near you soon. Come and join him for the ride.

Incredible Line Up For 3 June

For the 3 June gig Alan has brought together 4 (count 'em) amazing acts for our entertainment. Brief CVs where we have them will appear shortly. The acts are:

Headliner;

The Ivan Brackenbury Hospital Radio Roadshow.

Support from:

Ben Schofield

Jimmy O'Neill

Rod Shepherd - Conspiracy Theorist.

6th May - The Audience


Dom Woodward gives his 'psycho' stare.

Jamie Sutherland - Again

6th May - Jamie Sutherland

MC Alan Donegan

6th May - Dom Woodward

6th May - Dom Woodward - Again

6th May Comedy Night

The last comedy night was a rather hit and miss affair compared to previous evenings. Unfortunately the headliner, Dave Twentyman, had to cry off at very short notice as his wife was taken ill (hopefully she is ok now). Alan managed to get a friend to replace him with only a couple of hours notice. Alan, however, seemed to be off song - probably due to the stress of having to frantically make calls to save the evening and also the larger crowd - and the two comedians had mixed fortunes. One did quite well but the other was trying out new material and appeared to misjudge the audience, even veering rather close to racism at one point. There was also a young lad in the audience whose girlfriend made the mistake of letting it slip he was a copper and he provided an easy get-out for the performers when things weren't going well - just get an easy laugh by pointing at the poor lad and making a comment about the police. Too cheap in my opinion.

Despite this the audience seemed generally to have a good time and for those of you that didn't I apologise. I would like to reassure you that the evening is usually of a higher standard and please do yourselves a favour and give it another try.

Next month is the second anniversary of the start of the Fox and Grapes Comedy Night and Alan has organised what promises to be a cracking evening with no fewer than four performers. Details to follow.

Tuesday 6 May 2008

Tonight's The Night!

A quick reminder - tonight is comedy night at the Fox and Grapes. As always there is top class entertainment - this time provided by Dom Woodward and Dave Twentyman. A bigger crowd is expected tonight so make sure you get there early and partake of the fine ales (or whatever floats your boat).

See you all later.

The Fox