» Comedy Preview: Old Rope Comedy
One week into Brighton Festival and Brighton Festival Fringe and there are so many good shows to see and so little time to catch them all! Here’s a chance to see a mixture of new fresh material with bankable comics.
Old Rope Comedy takes players from the shows that are on locally – and further afield – and lets them try out new material in front of a live audience. That’s you. If at any time the performer’s new material seems to be waning in its reception, they simply hold onto the rope hanging in the centre of the stage and throw out some banker jokes that guarantee laughs but aren’t new. Old rope jokes in fact.
Past alumni and benefactors of the Old Rope forum have included Russell Howard, Stephen Grant and Richard Herring, and this Fringe’s show keeps that high quality and then piles on more.
The brilliant line-up leaked to us include In The Loop star and seasoned stand-up Chris Addison; Fringe and Radio 4 favourite Lucy Porter; Radio 4 writer and popular circuit comic Dan Evans; underground favourite Benny Boot; and her off the telly and winner of numerous stand-up prizes: Holly Walsh. All of them will be treating us with material never before heard – some of which may become classic, some of which could disappear into the ether, never to be aired again.
There’s an anarchic feel to any Old Rope Comedy night, as anything could happen – and quite frequently does. Created by respected comics Tiffany Stephenson and Phil Nichol, it’s been a crowd-pleaser at the Edinburgh Festival and its regular London spot for years, popular
with both punters and comics.
So if you want a taste of the Fringe but are at a loss as to where to start, there are a lot worse places than Komedia on Tuesday. There’s nowhere else you’d get those names at this price tag.
Tuesday 11 May, Komedia, 8pm, £6. Part of the Brighton Festival Fringe, www.brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk
