We’re back this December and have we got a Christmas treat for you! We’re delighted to welcome the fantastic Bridget Christie as our headliner. This will be first time she’s played the Komedia since winning the 2013 Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Award (formerly the Perrier)!
The event aims to raise awareness, money and morale for local domestic violence and sex abuse charities, Rise and Survivors Network, as part of the global campaign #16days to End Violence Against Women.
With special guests: Bridget Christie, Jo Neary, Sajeela Kershi, Athena Kugblenu, Laura Lexx, Harriet Braine and MC Jen Brister.
Charity Chuckle presents: Stand Up to End Violence Against Women featuring BRIDGET CHRISTIE
Date: Wednesday 7 December 2016, Venue: Komedia Main Room, 44 Gardner St, BRIGHTON BN1 1UN. Show start: 8pm Doors: 7pm Tickets: £17.50 & £15 concessions from the Komedia Box Office, online or 0845 293 8480.
Please note: line ups are subject to change due to circumstances beyond our control. If an act can’t appear we will always try to find a suitable replacement and provide a great night out. Any last minute changes will be noted on social media.
SEANN WALSHBOBBY MAIRYURIKO KOTANIDAVID JAMESHARRIET KEMSLEYJAMES ELLISKERRY HERBERT AND ZOE LYONS DO THE RAFFLE – No. 11!
SEANN WALSH – 2009 Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year, star of Live at the Apollo, Virtually Famous, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and Mock the Week
ZOE LYONS, MC – 2015 Comedian’s Comedian, star of Live at the Apollo and The Wright Stuff
BOBBY MAIR – dark, honest and unpredictable. As seen on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Virtually Famous
YURIKO KOTANI – 2015 Winner of the BBC Radio 2 New Comedy Award, Brighton Festival Squawkers Award and now nominated for the Leicester Mercury New Comedian of the Year 2016!
DAVID JAMES – ‘Great, world-weary composure and an irritable pedantry worthy of Jack Dee’ (Chortle)
HARRIET KEMSLEY – 2015 Winner of Brighton Comedy Festival New Act of the Year & the Bath Comedy Festival New Act of the Year
JAMES ELLIS – a Brighton-based brand new act.
Proceeds to Brighton and Hove Impetus, a charity that links local volunteers with the vulnerable or lonely.
Charity Chuckle – 7 years, 100 shows, £20,000 for the community.
Comedians include Stewart Lee, Al Murray, Romesh Ranganathan, Seann Walsh, Katherine Ryan, Lucy Porter, Zoe Lyons, Sara Pascoe, Hannibal Buress, Joanna Neary, Phil Jerrod, Pappy’s, James Acaster, Angela Barnes, Al Lubel, Stephen Carlin, Josh Widdicombe, Nick Helm, Luisa Omielan, Mrs Barbara Nice, Lucy Beaumont, Robin Ince
and many many more…
Charity Chuckle & Stand-Up Marketing WINNER! National Venus Award Home Based Business 2015
WINNER! Brighton & Sussex Natwest Venus Award Home Based Business 2014
If you run a business that would like to sponsor an altruistic, award-winning, prestigious comedy night with franchise potential, then please, we would love to hear from you!
“If you’re good at something never do it for free.”The Joker
“If you’re good at something do it for free for 6 or 7 years then stop before you become The Joker.”Kerry Herbert
I’ve got myself a cup of tea and put a ready meal in the oven. The towels are drying, the Bargainers are Hunting, and the traffic is flying along the seafront on this shiny wintry day. Time to update the Charity Chuckle blog and tell you…
why we’ve decided to stop.
The knives had actually been sharpened for July 2014. When Charity Chuckle started out at The Latest Bar in 2009, the aim had been to put on a good gig with our mates, get some stage time, and maybe raise a bit of money for charity as well. However, I’m a bit of a quietly ambitious sod, as long as it doesn’t involve exercise or climbing Table Mountain (apparently, reaching the top in as agonisingly a tedious way as possible counts as a “life-time achievement”, even though they built a cable car in 1929 and stuck a restaurant at the top! Send Brian Blessed up the edges I say and I’ll meet him in the caff with a lovely bowl of South African muscles.). Anyway, the wonderful Barnsley bugger aside, I wanted to book the very best comedians I could and make some proper money for the community. I wanted the charities or community groups to be small and local too, ones that could really do with a boost to their public profile, where their workers could enjoy some stress-free laughs, and where every penny counted because we weren’t big and we weren’t raking it in; quite the opposite, we were small and we were giving it away! If we were lucky we’d cover our costs. All hail the raffle that goes directly into the charity’s coffers!
Stewart Lee
So I drew up a list of my top three living comedians that I’d like to book in an ideal world – Stewart Lee, Sarah Millican, Flight of the Conchords*. Jim (Holland – co-promoter, partner, shoegazer) wanted Kitson. We both love Sadowitz, but guessed that joining Jerry with an uninitiated local charity audience might be attempting to shag one goat too many.
I’d been negotiating with Stewart Lee since 2010 when Jim had gone to his book-signing in Edinburgh and managed to get it in writing: “To Kerry. Stewart Lee. Yes, I will do your small charity gig in Brighton. Stewart Lee.” So good he signed it twice.
But what with one thing and another we just couldn’t get the dates to work. Finally in November 2013, we managed to get him booked in for the following summer nine months later – our Stewart Lee baby! The 8th July was the day after Jim’s birthday, so as a special birthday treat I booked Jim to do a set too, along with Zoe Lyons with 20 from her new show, and Julie Jepson as compere. Epic smugface for the best girlfriend in the world!
It was a fantastic gig. We’d moved to the Komedia Studio from the Latest Music Bar in September 2013, and with just an 80-seat capacity it had sold out in minutes. If we’d been agency promoters we’d have gone in the main space and lapped up the extra money, but we’re comedy lovers first and foremost and we liked the idea of seeing Stewart Lee live in an intimate club setting like an old style gig, and we thought it would make our audience feel pretty special too. Turns out Stew hadn’t been in the Studio Bar since he’d produced the Mighty Boosh 20 years before, so we had humble epic smugness in spades. Mr Lee did half an hour of new stuff for his forthcoming series of Comedy Vehicle and he said that he thoroughly enjoyed it. The Brighton audiences are so unique – their sharp intakes of breath fueled by green juice and right-on-ness – that it provides fascinating feedback for a comedian. Stewart Lee is a lovely man, smiley and handsome, as funny off stage as he is on, and absolutely brilliant in a small room. People laughed at Jim too!
And that was supposed to be that – July 2014, our triumphant final gig.
(*Sarah Millican is so busy she generally has tours booked 2-3 years in advance. Flight of the Conchords were/are split up and are based in New Zealand and LA. Kitson plays football on a Tuesday.)
How to NOT stop doing a gig
Somehow on New Years Eve 2013/14, flush with the success of booking the 41st best stand-up ever, drunk on the buzz of an incredible December gig with Sara Pascoe and… well… drunk… we resolved to do a Charity Chuckle run at the Edinburgh Fringe 2014.
Then as the first six months of 2014 went from strength to strength – Nick Helm, Holly Walsh, Joe Wilkinson, Stephen Carlin, Junior Simpson, even Al Murray popping in to do 5 minutes – it seemed a shame not to do our annual #16Days Christmas show for two of our favourite charities, Rise and Survivors Network as part of the global campaign to end violence against women. The domestic violence rep at Brighton & Hove Council said he wanted to engage young people, so I plumped for Pappy’s whose sitcom Badults was doing well: they’re a long time favourite of mine and they also really believed in the campaign. Sealing the December deal, our compere – the incomparable Miss Behave. We’d got the sleeper train up to Edinburgh and come across Amy Saunders in the lounge bar having a very sensible green soup. I’m good with faces so I’d recognised her mild-mannered alter-ego, though the leopardskin onesie with horns may have helped. Using all my skills, charm and the pitiful story of a broken air con in our steamy carriage, I got chatting and managed to pencil her in! So December was set.
There’s no rest for the wicked. Comic Relief had been in touch about a project in September with internet sensation Caspar Lee (to do his first ever stand-up gig with us). Katherine Ryan said she could pop in with 5 in October. And back in Edinburgh when we finally managed to escape our Comedy PR work and shows, we’d managed to catch Spencer Jones as the Herbert on recommendation from our good friend Ed Moore.
I was blown away – I had to get him on! – but he could only do November so I booked him in for that.
And finally, in the biggest surprise of them all, I won a Brighton & Sussex Venus Award 2014 for my work with Charity Chuckle and Stand-Up Marketing and then went on to win the National Award for the Home Based Business of 2015!
Venus Awards selfie at The Grand: Kerry, Justice, Jim, Tony, Bola
Not only were we 6 months on from our “final” gig – we were looking at another year. It was a rollercoaster we couldn’t get off, the Crazy Mouse of comedy!
Money
Yes, we love doing Charity Chuckle, it’s addictive, successful and a lot of fun, so why stop? Inevitably it’s that grubby thing – carpet. I need a new carpet. I have a very expensive toyboy and if I can’t keep myself in carpet who on earth is going to keep him in shoes?
Charity Chuckle has no outside funding, no sponsorship, no donors. I’ve always had high hopes for getting funding because everyone we talk to thinks it’s a brilliant thing – the charities love it, the comedians love it, the public loves it and we generally sell out. Each year in a fit of optimism, I fill in a load of forms to apply for local and/or government funding to cover running costs and maybe more. I’ve even sent off to Jack Daniels, Tuaca and the #BigSociety (#BS). Unfortunately, this has been entirely without success.
The problem, of course, is that we’re a fundraiser so the very idea is to give away as much of our profit as possible, and to a different small local charity each time. What kind of business model is that? It’s a very specific idiotic skillset.
Sound like YOUR kind of business? Do YOU have philanthropic interests, a love of comedy and enormous genitals? Please get in touch!
So back to the carpet. Sadly, I need to put my efforts into a full-time job where my expertise and my love of comedy (and books) is rewarded with actual coin that can be converted into a wool & polyester mix. It’s that or a hammock and moonshine.
We’ll probably miss it
I will miss our comedy bubble. Since 2009 we’ve created quite an extensive family of Chucklers, a community of comedians together with a community audience who just love to laugh for the benefit of others. With their support, we’ve raised nearly £20,000 for local people, and helped to hook up comedians and charities and the public in a way that is unique, certainly in Sussex.
Edinburgh – Jim Holland, Mark Simmons, Kate Lucas, Phil Jerrod and the lovely charity ladiesCharity Chuckle EVAW dressing room with Zoe Lyons, Miss London and Ingrid Dahle.
Oscar speech
Lastly, our thanks. Thank you to everyone who has performed – you’ve been brilliant. Thanks especially to Julie Jepson who has been a regular compere and friend to us pretty much from the beginning, and who helped to set the tone with her warmth and good humour. She made the charities comfortable. She also recommended The Meters Handclapping Song which was our walk-on music for years. She’s a lovely person and very, very funny. Thanks to Ed Moore, ace photographer who’s documented some of our finest moments. Thanks also to Zoe Lyons and Romesh Ranganathan who performed for us whenever they could and sprinkled a little bit of their gold dust on us! And I’d like to say a special thanks to Jo Neary and Robin Ince who helped us out when my Dad passed away and I was struggling. They stepped in to perform and made the Brighton Fringe a better place.
Thanks to our amazing audiences – all the people who came along on miserable Tuesday nights, laughed loudly, clapped wildly and made those nights more fun than a nun’s knees-up with a balalaika. Well, not everyone: that heckler from Gillingham who offered to take me out and punch me can stick it up his arse.
Thanks most of all to Jim, who is Charity Chuckle’s founder, its common sense and our comedians’ best friend: without him, none of it would have happened.
I’ll leave you with this: to our comedy friends that we grew up with – Good Luck You Famous Buggers! We love you and we’ll always be very proud of you. See you on the way down! Thank you, it’s been a blast.
Kerry xx
My highlights
I’m still astonished that Hannibal Buress did a 50-minute set with us during the Brighton Fringe 2012 when we were at The Latest Bar. It was just after he’d won American Club Comedian of the Year and Charity Chuckle was his only gig outside of London. How did I get him? Well, I always watch comedy comings and goings and I was friends with his PR, though it may have helped that my profile picture at the time was a 24 year-old bikini-clad me in a hammock. It did seem to improve bookings, though I took it down in the end because a comedian friend emailed to say he couldn’t get any work done. We’d made it a late one because – hey, it was the Fringe! – and he’d been filming for Russell Howard’s Good News in London. This shy sweet American turned up around 11pm, his first time in Brighton, fresh from our glorious train network, and proceeded to sit in the audience to watch Sean McLoughlin and Romesh Ranganathan doing their thing. All of a sudden the strip light crashed from the ceiling and nearly landed on him! Luckily it fell on Sean instead, who, though he has an American passport simply doesn’t have the funds to prosecute. Hannibal did a blistering but laid back set: proper US stand-up, hilarious and a privilege to watch. Later, after an interview with Lynne Ruth Miller where she told him all about herself, followed by a brief sojourn at Legends, I took him for a 3am MaccyD’s drive-thru – surely the highlight of any Brighton visit! The teen behind the counter didn’t realise we were in the presence of greatness and put all the floppy burgers in one bag, so I had to fish around to find his Big Mac amongst the liggers’ cheeseburgers who were sat like children in the back of the car. At the very end of the evening Hannibal carried his sad burger up the boutique hotel steps, and couldn’t get in because the receptionist had gone to bed. I reckon it was just like New York. I’m sure he’ll be back.
In December 2012, Luisa Omielan came on board as MC at the last minute and blew the roof off the place. “Are you looking at my vagina? Are you looking at my vagina?” A star was born.
I love this picture of Jo Neary in a huge gold headdress from dressing up charity Gladrags. My favourite piece from Jo was the Kraftwerk number, but that might have been another time or another show. She’s brilliant every time I see her.
Joe Wilkinson just walking about on stage for 7 minutes while the audience was wiping away tears.
This Nick Helm poster.
NICK HELM
At Charity Chuckle in Edinburgh, Bobby Mair got so off track and so dark with a young heckler and his dad that we didn’t know if he was ever going to get out of it, much to everyone’s delight. They were Scottish, he’s Canadian, I think they forgave him.
Spencer Jones’ first time – it was a game changer for some of the comics there, like Tommy Cooper on speed.
Al Murray popping in from his gig next door to do a genius 5 minutes. Look – Al Murray!
Lee Hume’s long racing joke. “And they’re off!…”
Julie Jepson killing it at the Latest Bar with my son Justice, who at the time was too young to stay at home alone so came to all the gigs. Like a little George Clooney, he’s great with a witty comeback. He recently did his first taster course with Jill Edwards and is now thinking about open mic nights.
When I did stand-up I had a nympho joke that used to go down quite well (fnrr). Each time, I’d pick a man I wouldn’t “do”. This time it was senior comedian David James. It was particularly funny because everyone would do David.
Our old mate Seann Walsh was at the back of the Fancy Room in Edinburgh crying with laughter while Jim sat on stage changing into tap shoes and telling a joke about boiled eggs. Romesh was crying with laughter at Seann. As I think Seann said, “That takes some balls.” Indeed it does. Egg-shaped ones.
KERRY HERBERT
Charity Chuckle’s last gig (probably) will be on Tuesday 9th February 2016 at the Komedia Studio Bar, 8pm.
Al Lubel: “Perfectly formed gags in the finest tradition of the dry New York one-liner”The Guardian
On Tuesday in Brighton you have a chance to catch a stand-up set from American comedian, Al Lubel, as part of a stellar line-up helping to raise money for the victims of the Nepal Earthquake. This is Al’s only visit to Brighton in this trip to the UK. Joining him will be gagsmith Mark Simmons, TV favourite Zoe Lyons, local resident Sam Savage and the endearingly funny Juliet Meyers, all compered by one of the best character comedians in the country, Jo Neary.
Profits will be donated to local charity, Our Sansar, who’s work in Nepal has already made a real difference to victims of the Earthquake. They already run a children’s home for street children, and this week they have been looking to set up another one in the Gorkha region which was the epicentre of the quake and now has so many homeless children and families.
The gig’s on Tuesday 12th May at the Brighton Komedia. Doors 7.30pm and show start 8pm. Tickets are just £10.
We’ve got an amazing line up of gigs for you in 2015, starting with our March show featuring new material from Jonathan Ross star, ROMESH RANGANATHAN, aka MC Ranga the lazy-eyed assassin.
Tues 14th April:PHIL JERROD “Behind the beard is a comic whose instinctive mastery of his form immediately marks him out as one to watch” The Guardian Also in April, the wonderful STEPHEN CARLIN.
Tues 12th May:NICK HELM (winner of Best Breakthrough Artist at the British Comedy Awards 2014, the Times Breakthrough Award 2014, nominated for Edinburgh Best Show 2011 & 2013, winner of Dave’s Best Joke 2011, as seen in Uncle, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown andRussell Howard’s Good News– click for THAT FAT SONG, it’s a classic.) See here for Funny Valentines on BBC iplayer, only available for a couple of weeks so click now! http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p02j75pt/funny-valentines-nick-helm-elephant
Tues 9th June:JAMES ACASTER, (nominated for Best Comedy Show Edinburgh 2012, Best International Show New Zealand 2013, Best Comedy Show Edinburgh 2013, and Fosters Best Comedy Show nominee 2014).
Tues 14th July:AISLING BEA (British Comedy Award for Best Female TV Comic 2014, Fosters Best Newcomer Nominee 2013, So You Think You’re Funny Winner 2012, as seen on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Live at the Apollo, QI)
NB. Line-ups can change due to circumstances beyond our control.
Happy New Year to you all, and a massive thanks to all the comedians, charities, audience members and staff at the Brighton Komedia and Just the Tonic, who have made this year such a success. Thanks to Ed Moore for tirelessly turning up and taking some of the best photos in the business – most of these are his, below. And thanks to some of the agents who have helped us out, particularly Paul at Glorious Management and Mick at Mick Perrin Worldwide.
Check out the photos in our gallery – there’s some awesome shots.
And now – everyone loves lists right? – to some of Charity Chuckle’s favourite bits of 2014:
1. Al Murray popping in with a tight five and all of us at the back being so excited we could shit – he was brilliant.
2. Pulling a bull photobomb at Stewart Lee and Julie Jepson and making them giggle like children.
3. Stewart Lee doing 55 minutes of jaw-droppingly good new material. My favourite bit was the one that caused a collective gasp from the Brighton PC brigade, and the way that he addressed it. Hysterical. Buy his DVD here, on Amazon, and have a good gasp again: www.amazon.co.uk/Stewart-Lees-Comedy-Vehicle-DVD/
(It was a real thrill to be able to benefit the Brighton charity, Foodshare, with this gig: they are a food redistribution service, supplying foodbanks and charities, but they are so small that they couldn’t help to make up the audience numbers, so this sure fire sell-out gig was especially for them.)
4. Joe Wilkinson’s new 10, comprising 7 and a half minutes of him wandering round the stage.
5. Scoring Spencer Jones from the Edinburgh Fringe, and watching as the Komedia bar staff wet themselves laughing as never before.
6. In February, selling out our first show of the year with Junior Simpson and then following it with another sell-out in March with Stephen Carlin, and April with Nick Helm. Magic!
NICK HELM, DAN MITCHELL, NO MORE PAGE 3
7. The October gig, that was just sublime stand-up comedy – one of the best nights we’ve had for the pure beauty of it – featuring Sean McLoughlin, Phil Jerrod, Joe Wells, Roz Ryan, Dave Green, Canadian comics Andrew Johnston and Katherine Ryan, and headliner Damo Clark.
SEAN MCLOUGHLINPHIL JERRODKATHERINE RYAN
8. Jo Neary‘s swinger in May, and with the Gladrags dressing up box in November – she’s so inventive and hilarious, it’s never less than a delight.
JO NEARY
9. Zoe Lyons’ sofa story at Christmas. And the photo she sent me afterwards.
10. In Edinburgh: hanging out with Miss Behave on the sleeper; Sara Pascoe’s new toilet ramblings (don’t wee on the seat, girls); Barbara Nice crowdsurfing the nurses; Luisa Omielan and the 14 year old boy; BOBBY MAIR; Chris Boyd’s A-game; Kerry Herbert rehearsing for 4 hours to do 5 minutes – her first gig in a year; and, Jim Holland taking his shoes off onstage to put on his tap shoes and Seann and Romesh weeping with laughter at the back, big fat tears rolling down Seann’s face.
Kerry at Just the Tonic Caves, Edinburgh
Comedians Jim Holland, Mark Simmons, Kate Lucas, Phil Jerrod, and some of the Scottish charities at the Edinburgh Fringe 2014.SEANN WALSHROMESH RANGANATHANSARA PASCOEJIM HOLLAND
It’s been a great year. We’ve met some lovely people. We’ve laughed a lot. We’re tired now.
Happy New Year and see you next time!
Love, spangles and two-tone shoes. Kerry and Jim xx
We’re excited about the next two Chuckle Chuckles. We think they are going to be the best, funniest, most spectacular vernacular nights out in Brighton. And Charity Chuckle has won an award (the Natwest Venus Awards Brighton & Sussex) so it must be true! Whether you love comedy, you’re com-curious or you just fancy doing something different – a bit of a laugh – do book now and make sure you’ve got your tickets!
A week from now (Tues 11th Nov) you’ll get the chance to see SPENCER JONES headlining Charity Chuckle in the Komedia Studio. He’s amazing, hilarious, very very funny. Is it his first time in Brighton? It can’t be – let us know. We saw his show in Edinburgh, Spencer Jones is The Herbert, and it cracked us up! Soooo silly. Like John Shuttleworth without the songs, like John Kearns without the monk, like Brian Gittins. He’s a must-see, and the rest of the line-up is fantastic too.
And now we’ve got JO NEARY compering the night with a great big dressing up box supplied by this month’s charity, Gladrags. Who knows what will happen, but it’s going to be so much fun! TUES 11 NOV, 8pm, Komedia, £10 or £5 concessions: CLICK HERE TO BOOK ONLINE
For our big Christmas show on the 9th December we’ve got PAPPY’S headlining. Yes, PAPPY’S! Brilliant!
And with all the added sparkle of a bottle of P-Diddy’s Kristal, we are thrilled to have successfully begged the gorgeous and dangerous MISS BEHAVE to compere. That’s the best sleeper train to Edinburgh with no conditioning in a heatwave we’ve ever got! Her onesie was FAB-U-LOUS!
And ZOE LYONS! And award-winning newer comedians KATE LUCAS (Leicester Comedian of the Year 2014) and SOFIE HAGEN (Chortle Best Newcomer). Plus surprises, and prizes and probably even a meat raffle (the butcher, he say yes!) – HOO-HA!
This comedy benefit is part of the annual campaign, 16 Days of Action to End Violence Against Women, and money raised will be shared between domestic violence charity, RISE, and a sexual violence support service, Survivors Network, both based in Brighton & Sussex.
More about November’s comedians: SPENCER JONES ‘A true silly billy and the biggest wally at this year’s Fringe’ John Kearns, 2014 Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner LOU SANDERS ‘If Vic and Bob had had a baby back in their heyday, it would have grown up to be Lou Sanders. Bonkers’ BBC Radio STEPHANIE LAING ‘Disgusting and delightful in equal measure. She is definitely one to watch.’ Three Weeks EVELYN MOK ‘Brutal but funny’ Chortle BEN VAN DER VELDE ‘Whipsharp… with an air of mischievous mayhem’ Chortle DARREN MASKELL ‘Makes forty short minutes seem like a lifetime’ Three Weeks
Compere: JO NEARY ‘Hilarious off-kilter talent’ Sunday Telegraph. A brilliant character comedian – she was in Ideal with Johnny Vegas and Miranda with Miranda, and oh, loads of stuff. She loves dressing up.
Charity: Gladrags, the local charity bringing over 5000 affordable costumes to community groups, schools and colleges.
It’s an awesome line-up, with Australian Damo Clarke, Canadians Katherine Ryan (SOLD OUT next door!) and Andrew Johnston, Englishmen and women Phil Jerrod, Dave Green and Roz Ryan, and half-American Sean McLoughlin.
Unfortunately compere Tom Toal has had to drop out due to illness, but we are delighted that brilliant political comedian JOE WELLS is stepping in. We’ve known Joe for years through his gigs down in Portsmouth, and his show Night of the Living Tories is an absolute barnstormer! He MCed our two last Charity Chuckle shows in Edinburgh and he was hilarious – the crowds loved him! Joe’s doing his full show on the 28th October at the Caroline of Brunswick, but catch him here now, tonight at the Komedia!
Doors 7.30pm, Show start 8pm. (Tickets are available on the door till approx 8pm.)
Kerry Herbert, comedy promoter at Charity Chuckle and Stand-Up Marketing (in the middle of the photo), is a finalist in the Brighton Venus @womenawards for Home Based Business!
The Award ceremony is at The Grand on Friday 17th October. Apparently the Venus Awards are just like Brighton’s Oscars. Who’s hoping Kerry will go for a reprisal of Bjork’s egg-laying swan?
Good evening, Chuckle-fans! No doubt you have been wailing and gnashing your teeth for a month at the absence of Charity Chuckle from the Komedia. But we have been making our annual pilgrimage to Scotland to find more great comics for you! (And treat ourselves to lunch at a very nice restaurant).
Team Charity Chuckle ventured north to the grand citadel of Edinburgh for the world’s largest arts festival, not only to seek out more excellent comedic talent to bring back to Brighton, but also to put on a series of shows as part of the Fringe – 9 shows, 9 days, 9 charities, 36 comedians!
We did photo shoots with the comics and representatives of the charities:
Photoshoot at the Caves listings with comics and charity representatives.
The otter charity based on the Isle of Skye couldn’t make it so they sent us this chap:
Otter
We had our Chalk Board outside Just the Tonic Caves to announce that day’s line-up (providing it survived the rain).
Charity Chuckle Chalk Board
And we put on some fantastic shows!
Our very first line up, on 2 August was compered by Aidan Goatley, and featured Angela Barnes, The Birthday Girls, Katherine Ryan and Sara Pascoe headlining!
…All for the Edinburgh Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre.
And our finale on 10 August featured Joe Wells compering and a fantastic line up of Joel Dommett, Romesh Ranganathan, Jim Holland, and Seann Walsh headlining.
All in aid of the International Otters Survival Fund.
This month we return to the Komedia with another top-notch line up headlined by the fantastic Nathan Caton, who was a hit at the Edinburgh Festival this year.
Stewart Lee hadn’t been in the Komedia Studio for 20 years, since he’d produced the Mighty Boosh. We could have sold the tickets ten times over – they sold out in minutes – but we’d decided to keep the show in the 80-seat Studio so that we could give our Charity Chuckle regulars and true comedy fans a small, intimate, brilliant gig to remember.
Zoe Lyons
And so it was. Zoe Lyons, Jim Holland and compere Julie Jepson entertained, thrilled and charmed the packed crowd. It would have been more than enough. But this night we were also treated to 55 minutes of new and newish stuff from Stewart Lee, and what stonking stuff it was too! He appeared to be enjoying it as much as we were, feeding off the reactions of an audience that was – well, very Brighton.
Everyone went home happy – so happy that we were congratulated in the street in the following days. The comedians got to try out their Works in Progress; local charity, FareShare, collected the dried food, tins and a whole Lidl bag full of shopping that the audience had generously donated, as well as over £450 in money raised; Jim and Julie got to appear on a bill with their comedy heroes; and I watched an amazing, hilarious night of top-notch and topical comedy for free, plus I got my Charity Chuckle poster signed.
Jim Holland
Loved it. Thank you to Zoe, Stew, Jim and Julie for a truly great night, and the audience for being there. We can’t do live comedy and support local charities without you. And if you missed, well, there’s always Edinburgh!
Subscribers to the newsletter received a promotion code to buy tickets to the July show for FareShare 24 hours before they went on sale to the public, and the tickets are going fast!
Sign up to the newsletter and you’ll get advance info on any special promotions. We’ll only email if we have something exciting to tell you.
Date: Tuesday 8th July 2014 Comedians:STEWART LEE,ZOE LYONS, JIM HOLLAND Compere: JULIE JEPSON Charity: Fare Share Brighton – food redistribution. Instead of a raffle, Charity Chuckle Fare Share would welcome a harvest festival approach: please bring along a tin of food, dried goods or a packet of biscuits (or Jaffa Cakes) and they will be shared with those in need.
Venue: Komedia Studio Time: Doors 7.30pm, Show start 8pm. Tickets: £10 from Komedia Box Office and online. £5 concessions tickets available for June.
(Tickets for July’s Charity Chuckle will go on sale to the public on the 12th June. Audience members at the June show and subscribers to the CharityChuckle.co.uk newsletter will be given a code word enabling them to buy tickets 24hrs before general release.)
“Kerry and Jim closed their eyes and made a wish and when they opened them one of their top favourite comedians, Stewart Lee, had landed in a crisp packet at their door. Hurray!”
Brighton’s unique comedy fundraiser is a remarkable 5 years old this summer, making it one of the longest running nights in town, and the only UK comedy night to donate its proceeds to a different local charity each month. Having raised £14,000 for the community, the promoters of Charity Chuckle, Kerry Herbert and Jim Holland, will be celebrating in the only way they know how: by putting on two special comedy nights with some of the best new stand-up in the country for the benefit of two local charities.
Then they will take the show to the Edinburgh Fringe in the biggest arts festival in the world for a 9-show run to benefit Edinburgh charities, such as the Benevolent Fund for Nurses.
Why do they do it? Because they are curmudgeons and bitter with it. Laughing at others is the only thing that cheers them up.
JUNE’s show features Jen Brister, John Pendal, Suzy Bennett and more for local HIV+ charity, Peer Action. One of Peer Action’s supporters is currently Brighton’s most famous resident, Chris from Gogglebox! Charity Chuckle promoter Kerry said, “I was getting my hair dyed as per instruction from the nuns many moons ago (‘When you leave convent school you can dye your hair sky-blue-pink, until then it’s brown’) when I got chatting to the hairdresser with the gifted multi-coloured fingers. He was about to film a new thing called Gogglebox later that night and his tan was still settling in. Neither of us knew he was on the brink of stardom! When I told Chris about my monthly comedy fundraiser and he told me about the charity he’s involved with, it was as if a lightbulb exploded above both our heads. We got someone else to change it of course, and here, now, is Charity Chuckle for Peer Action! And to top it off, my hair was such a brilliant pink that I got a round of applause on the bus.”
Peer Action has facilitated steering groups and identified that within the HIV community in Brighton and Hove, people are feeling isolated, low in self confidence with lack of peer support. Peer Action has been established to encourage and empower individuals living with HIV to value their health and wellbeing while minimising the impact of loneliness and anxieties.
JULY is an extra special one for promoters Kerry and Jim as both their birthdays fall this month. They closed their eyes and made a wish and when they opened them one of their top favourite comedians, Stewart Lee, had landed in a crisp packet at their door. Hurray!
We will also have new material from Brighton’s very favourite adopted daughter, Zoe Lyons. And because it’s Jim Holland’s birthday the day before, he gets the special birthday treat of performing a set from his debut Edinburgh show, Shoegazing. Compere will be Julie Jepson.
About Charity Chuckle
Charity Chuckle is simply one of the best nights out in Brighton at one of its best venues, the Komedia. The show has become a monthly highlight in the comedy calendar, with a careful selection of the best new stand-up on the circuit for the benefit of a different local charity each month.
May’s Charity Chuckle saw a surprise appearance from The Pub Landlord, Al Murray, as well as hilarious new material from top-notch TV and club comedians. In 2014 alone, this well-loved night has seen appearances from Joe Wilkinson, Nick Helm and Holly Walsh, alongside new comedy award winners Kate Lucas and Alasdair Beckett-King.
Unpredictable, hilarious, outrageous, inspiring, intimate – no two shows are the same – and with proceeds going back into the community it’s a laugh with the feel good factor. With glowsticks.
Tuesday’s show with Nick Helm at The Komedia has SOLD OUT! Thanks very much if you bought a ticket and are helping raise money for Martlets Hospice. If you have yet to purchase a ticket there may be a final few left on the door for followers of this blog. Let us know.
Thanks also if you came to our last sold out show with Stephen Carlin. Complete with auction money and donations the event raised over £900 for Whoopsadaisy and little children with cerebral palsy. A fantastic amount for a fantastic charity. Check out their work here: www.whoopsadaisy.org
We’re delighted to announce that our May show is with Matthew Crosby of Pappy’s and TV’s Badults fame, to raise money for Target TB. He’s brilliant! Let’s make it our third sold out show this year! We tend to do one international charity each year and Target TB is a small Brighton-based charity that raises money for people in India and Africa.
More exciting news this week: Stewart Lee is definitely absolutely utterly confirmed and coming to gig with us this summer, showcasing new material. We’ll be offering advance pre-sale tickets to followers of this blog so please be sure to follow it and to Like our official Facebook Page via the link on our Home Page (we have other Chuckle sites with loads of followers but this is the one that appears to show how popular we are – Facebook made us do it). So join the club and we’ll be in touch with a special code and a funny handshake.
Recently the comedy world has been frenzied about all things Festival, and we will be joining the party and taking Charity Chuckle to the Edinburgh Fringe later this year with Just The Tonic at the Caves, for the first week only, 4.45pm at the Fancy Room, and we’ll be inviting all our favourite acts to take part. Twitter will no doubt be the main means of communication in Edinburgh this year, so please make sure you’re signed up to @charitychuckle – if you like that sort of thing!
And finally… Grand National horse the Big Shu may have fallen at the third post at the weekend, but Charity Chuckle co-promoter Jim Holland is going for gold with his first solo stand-up show, Shoegazing. He’ll be performing at the Brighton Fringe in May and for the whole of August at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – 6.20pm at the Caves Wee Room on Niddry St. He’s already had a wicked response to Work in Progress shows; Brighton’s own comedy son Seann Walsh “cried with laughter!”
Look out for Jim’s previews in Brighton including Monday 7th April with Nathanial Metcalfe at the Caroline of Brunswick – BOOK HERE – and Tuesday 29th April with Aidan Goatley, also at the Caroline. Or check out the more professional version of the Shoegazing: Work in Progress shows throughout the Brighton Fringe at the Dukebox Theatre at the Iron Duke. Here’s Jim’s updated website for more info on the show.
That’s all for now. See you Tuesday – not at the front!
Hello! What would you like on a Friday afternoon? A bit of Stewart Lee news? A bit of Nick Helm? A clip or two of Stephen Carlin cos if you haven’t got a ticket yet I’m afraid that boat’s sailed out (BOOM!).
And if you’re out drinking tonight:
Thank you to everyone who has signed up to this blog. I know we’re a bit random with it, but here’s the news: Stewart Lee, probably the best comedian in the world – though currently only 18th best above Russell Kane but below Russell Howard – is coming to Charity Chuckle in July. We’re really enjoying his Comedy Vehicle Series 3 on BBC2 on a Saturday night. Especially the Shilbottle episode. My friend, who hasn’t laughed since Lee and Herring way back in the 50s, found it so amusing that she repeated Shilbottle 10 times and now she’s a comedian.
So if you’ve signed up to this blog in a moment of loyalty or boredom then tighten your channels because your ships are coming in. You will get the chance to snap up a crisp ticket or two to see Stewart Lee in the intimate setting of the Komedia Studio Bar before tickets go on general release. He’ll probably doing stuff from his new Edinburgh show, A Room with a Stew. Excited? Yup.
We’re also absolutely thrilled that the March show sold out a week in advance. February was very close to a full house too. It gives me and Jim Holland a golden glow, like in Cocoon. Or Antonio Banderas.
The show on Tuesday 8th April is headlined by the amazing NICK HELM, star of UNCLE. Also the 2014 New Act of the Year KATE LUCAS, Show Me the Funny runner-up DAN MITCHELL, and up-and-comer JOE FOSTER. Going on recent glories we recommend that you BOOK TICKETS as soon as possible.
A huge THANK YOU to all who came to Charity Chuckle in 2013 and made it such a great year for live comedy and local fundraising. This year we helped to raise over £3,600 for Brighton & Hove’s charities and community groups – laughing through the tears – which takes our grand Charity Chuckle total to £12,000+. Give yourselves a round of applause, a pat on the back and a very large mince pie.
Sara Pascoe, Charity Chuckle Dec 2013
And we’ve seen fantastic comedy from acts such as Robin Ince, Luisa Omielan, Jo Neary, Nathan Penlington, Carl Donnelly, Sara Pascoe, Ingrid Dahle, David James, Zoe Lyons and of course, the wonderful newer acts, all cherry-picked to give you one of the best nights of stand-up comedy in town. That’s worth another mince pie, go on! And a little sherry for Santa!
ROBIN INCE at CHARITY CHUCKLE in the Brighton Fringe 2013
From February 2014, we’ll be doing it all again, every second Tuesday of the month at the Komedia Studio. We’ve already booked some very exciting comedians including Pappy’s, Mrs Barbara Nice and Stewart Lee, and we’ve put them together with some local charities who need the money, the exposure and a bloody good time. Do sign up for advance information at our Facebook Page or newsletter (erratic at best, but we’ll try and do better and send one a month).
Happy holidays! Keep supporting live comedy and see you in 2014!
Unfortunately, Lucy Porter has had to pull out of tomorrow’s gig due to child and hubby sickness (why, winterbug, why?) but we are excited to announce that in her place ANDREA HUBERT will be stepping on that train and heading on down to Brighty!
Andrea’s a bona fide up-and-coming comic having reached the later stages of all the national comedy competitions, and she comes highly recommended by Zoe Lyons and Broadway Baby no less: “Andrea Hubert’s eccentric and dark humour has the audience in hysterics… the charisma and confidence of a natural performer.”Brighton Komedia 2012, Broadway Baby
Can’t wait to see her at Charity Chuckle. Have you got your ticket yet? If not, you can still buy them here (click on link, or below) or on the door at the Komedia. Proceeds will be shared between Brighton & Hove’s domestic violence charity, Rise, and rape crisis centre, Survivors’ Network. We don’t want it to go on but it does, so just by buying a ticket you will be supporting the charities’ vital work. We’re also part of Brighton & Hove Council’s Safe In the City campaign, and we thank them for paying for the venue and some marketing costs (did you see the posters on the seafront?).
See you tomorrow – it’s going to be great. Even the Mayor’s coming!
ANGELA BARNES first appeared at Charity Chuckle in March 2012 at a fabulous sell-out gig for BHIMS, and it’s been thrilling to watch her prove a smash-hit on Stand Up for the Week. Unfortunately, filming commitments mean that Angela isn’t able to make it for the Charity Chuckle 16 Days Christmas Special. Boo, what a shame.
However, you can still watch her on the telly, and every cloud… We’re delighted to present in her place the very lovely LUCY PORTER! Yaaaay go wild!
Lucy headlined last year’s gig – rather magnificently – and then on the train back gave the newer up-and-coming comics loads of helpful tips on a career in comedy, gleaned from her 13 years experience! Here’s a nice piece in The Independent (click on name to read) about her latest show, Northern Soul, that also includes our headliner, Sara Pascoe, in one of the top four comedians to see at this year’s Edinburgh Festival. About Lucy: “Her childhood heroes were Morrissey, David Hockney and Dennis Skinner, and she once tried to pass herself off as a northerner because she thought they were nicer folk, only to be horribly and hilariously found out in a live radio interview.”
We’ve done it! Over 4 years, gig by gig, joke by joke, laugh by laugh, we’ve managed to raise over £10,000 for local charities and community groups in Brighton, Hove, and the Sussex area. Charity Chuckle even put on a gig for the Sussex branch of the RSPB, and though we couldn’t be sure the birds would stay within the boundaries we’re pretty sure most of them came back!
Let’s hope we can raise even more for Brighton charities Rise and Survivors’ Network at the BIG ONE, the Charity Chuckle 16 Days Christmas Special on Tuesday 10th December! It’s in the main room of the Komedia with a capacity of 292, so please tell all your friends and help us pack it out.
It’s going to be a great night with tip tip comedy and a sprinkle of magic. See you there!
Charity Chuckle is standing up for BBC’s CHILDREN IN NEED on Tuesday 12th November at 8pm in the Brighton Komedia! Tickets are just £9 or £5 concessions to see new, award-winning and TV comedians – two of them musical so prepare for a sing-a-long! – and a minimum of 50% from each ticket will go to the BBC Children in Need Appeal. That percentage goes up if we sell out, so please grab your friends and book now! Then you can put your feet up on Friday and watch the appeal on TV knowing you’ve done your bit and had a great night out too.
Last December, our Charity Chuckle 16 Days compere was LUISA OMIELAN, STAR of her self-penned GLOBAL SMASH-HIT show, What Would Beyonce Do? Who could ever forget her – bonkers, brilliant and totally hilarious!
LUISA OMIELAN CAN’T MAKE IT TO CHUCKLE THIS YEAR Photo. Ed Moore
This year our host for another spectacular evening and the grand finale of 16 Days of Action to End Violence against Women will be… MISS LONDON!!!!!!
What will Miss London do? Well this, for starters!
BOOK NOW to ensure your tickets, and remember that profits from the night will be shared between local domestic violence charity RISE and rape crisis centre SURVIVORS NETWORK so just by buying tickets and telling your friends you are doing a great thing, thank you!
Charity Chuckle has been putting on quality comedy nights for the last four years, but the packed ‘Digital’ show at the Komedia was probably the biggest technical challenge yet. Specially curated for the Brighton Digital Festival, every comic would have a different laptop set-up. And there was an animated stand-up section!
First act, NATHAN PENLINGTON, told of his journey into “the very analogue” Choose Your Own Adventure books. Gripped, no-one wanted his set to end with shouts of “MORE” confirming why he won an EDINBURGH FRINGE FIRST at this year’s festival. JOSEPH MORPURGO broke the fourth wall with his Twitter improvements and an apple, while PHIL LUCAS delivered dancing and pop star memes with aplomb (not a plum). LAURIE ROWAN’s animated short film Fuzzy Banter had everyone chuckling and headliner, Edinburgh-prize-nominee DAVID TRENT, shocked and delighted with multimedia jams. Hilariously conducted – or compered, with a glowstick – by MICHAEL FABBRI, the audience left the Komedia smiling and thoroughly entertained, many promising to come back to Charity Chuckle next month.
It was a very funny and original night. As Tom Bailey, organiser of this year’s BDF2013, said: “They were all really great – and much more interesting than you often get in the more stag & hen type stand-up nights”.
And everyone got a glowstick bracelet to wear home!
See more photos of the night in the gallery section, and come along to the next Charity Chuckle to see great new stand-up and support the local community at the same time. Next show: Tuesday 22 October 2013, 8pm
Charity Chuckle is thrilled to announce a move to Brighton’s award-winning comedy venue, the Komedia. And our first show on Tuesday 10th September will be part of the Brighton Digital Festival, with the fantastic multi-media comedian DAVID TRENT heading the bill!
Once we get the poster done (:{ tickets are sure to sell quickly so snap yours up here or on the fancy WGT link below, or visit the Komedia Box Office. Oh and we are managing our own events on We Got Tickets/Comedy now, so if you’d like to hear about our forthcoming shows then please tick the box to join the mailing list when you buy your ticket. We promise we won’t email you more than once a month (if that – Doctors can be mighty compelling).
I am back! Also: I have a hangover! Those things are not unconnected.
I haven’t been gigging regularly since July last year. I’ve had two random gigs in that time, jumping in to fill a spot at the last minute by doing my old set. But this is the first I’ve done with the thought of getting back into doing stand-up comedy properly.
And of course, being kind-of rusty, I decided to make life easy for myself. I decided to write an entirely new five minute set from scratch in less than two weeks.
I imagined three possible scenarios for how the gig might go:
1) I forgot everything.
2) I remembered everything but didn’t deliver it strongly enough and went “er” a lot.
3) I remembered everything and delivered it well but it turned out it just wasn’t funny.
Unfortunately, Joe Wilkinson can no longer appear. But just flown in from Australia, the Philippines and beyond is Amelia Jane Hunter. Prepared to be regaled with bawdy and extreme tales and wall to wall laughter.
It’s an exciting day for Charity Chuckle. We’ve just heard that Joe Wilkinson is going to drop in and do a spot for us on Tuesday. Wet your pants exciting, yeah? Here’s Joe with some bread to mop up the news…
It all started in June 2009 when we were but comedy babies.
They say time speeds up as you get older. Fast forward to June 2013, and Charity Chuckle celebrates four whole years of raising money through raising laughs, with an extra wrinkle for every comedian. When we started there was no such thing as Miranda! Now, not only one of our comedy friends been on it, but stand-up has taken other friends all the way to the O2 and the Michael McIntyre Roadshow!
Since June 2009, Charity Chuckle has brought some of the best comedic talent to Brighton. Headliners have included Radio 4’s Infinite Monkey Cager, ROBIN INCE; star of Stand-Up For The Week and The Last Leg, JOSH WIDDICOMBE; Brighton’s own brilliantly acerbic ZOE LYONS; Edinburgh Award Nominees, DAVID TRENT and JAMES ACASTER; and, in his only gig outside London and Edinburgh, the American comedian, HANNIBAL BURESS, who has just signed to America’s Comedy Central for a sitcom pilot, an hour-long stand-up special and a nationwide tour of the USA.
Charity Chuckle has been a labour of love for promoters Kerry Herbert and Jim Holland, who are passionate about stand-up, wanting to introduce new groups to live comedy and in so doing, raise awareness, funds and morale for the support workers in the community. As a voluntary event with proceeds going to a different charity each month, we make no money for all the effort and stress we put in, though Jim was delighted to be nominated for a Metro “little bit of decency award” (by Kerry).
Charity Chuckle events have raised over £8000 for local charities. Though the charities are local, Charity Chuckle’s intended reach is global. At least one of the selected charities each year undertakes its work overseas, such as Target TB, Alala, East Africa Children’s Project and Maternity Worldwide. A dance flashmob organised for the December 2012 event – the first ever in a comedy club – was later used in an international campaign to end violence against women, Eve Ensler’s One Billion Rising. Gail Gray, CEO of domestic abuse charity RISE, said, “Never underestimate the impact your Charity Chuckle nights have – it is so impressive to have such energy driving these events forward and benefitting so many.”
On Tuesday 11 June, we will be celebrating the last show with semi-pros at the Latest Music Bar before moving on to a regular slot at the Komedia (Charity Chuckle’s New Act Night will be at the LMB on 13th August 2013). Kerry and Jim would like to invite all comedy and Brighton lovers to a bit of a Charity Chuckle party and a fabulous night of stand-up, secure in the knowledge that just through laughing (and buying a ticket!) you’ll be helping to raise money for local children’s charity, Safety-Net.
Headliner is award-winning comedian, CARL DONNELLY, who has appeared on Dave’s One Night Stand, Mock the Week and Russell Howard’s Good News. We saw Carl’s show in Edinburgh last year and were blown away with his laid back style and hilarious take on life. We can’t wait to see him again. Jim Holland will also be doing a set as he did on that very first night in 2009, and the lovely Julie Jepson will be compering as she did that very first night too.
Do come! We’d love to see you, and yes, we do love cake, booze and party poppers!
Here’s a video of Carl Donnelly on Dave’s One Night Stand:
ABOUT THE CHARITY: www.safety-net.org.uk
Safety Net’s vision is to create communities across Brighton, Hove and Sussex that work together to keep children safe. They aim to ensure all children and young people are aware that they have the right to feel and be safe, and that they can get help when they need it. Safety Net works with families, in schools and in local communities.
A great line-up of intelligent alternative comedians and some very silly ones.
ROBIN INCE, JOEL DOMMETT, JO NEARY, SAM SAVAGE, DARREN MASKELL, DAVID JORDAN, paper nonsense from PHIL LUCAS, and introducing a brilliant new act from Sussex.
Proceeds go to Victim Support, a national charity that supports witnesses and victims of crime.
To donate directly to Victim Support then we have set up a Giving Page. All money will help support victims of crime like those in Ch4’s programme Murder Workers.
Q: WHERE IS THE WARREN?
A: WATCH THIS VIDEO:
Q: CAN I WATCH A SHORT STRANGE TRAILER FOR THIS EVENT?
A: YES.
Work on my debut stand-up show for Edinburgh 2014 continues! Well, I’ve made some more posters.
This one was the most popular on Facebook. It’s me being Peter Kay. It’s not like me at all.
This one garnered very little interest on Facebook but is more like what I might actually do i.e. be wantonly philosophical whilst making obscure references to a long-dead comic book series that only lasted two issues.
This is something I might do but it is also a parody of the comedian’s self-absorbed waffling. (Irony is such a good shield for self-doubt.)
This would be an hour about my shoes and feet. Possible alternative titles are “Shoe Gazing” or “Shoe Comedian”. Tagline:
TO REALLY KNOW SOMEONE YOU MUST WALK A MILE IN THEIR SHOES.
UNLESS THEY WALK A MILE IN THEIR OWN SHOES AND THEN JUST TELL YOU ABOUT IT.
It’s been an exciting couple of weeks for Charity Chuckle.
Firstly, the Tina Tina routine worked out for the December 2012 Charity Chuckle was performed again by flash mobs on Brighton Pier and in Churchill Square for the One Billion Rising campaign. Up to 200 women and men (including Caroline Lucas MP and Charity Chuckle promoter Kerry Herbert) rose up and danced to demand an end to violence against women. It was both huge fun and an emotional experience, having seen it through from a germ of an idea to a dancing mob of protesting women.
Next, our compere for Tuesday 5th March and previous headliner – Romesh Ranganathan – won the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year award, which has also been won by luminaries such as Johnny Vegas and Brighton’s own Seann Walsh. Congratulations Rom, exciting times ahead!
Sam Savage is runner up in the NATYS 2013, seen here in a winner’s comedy sandwich.
Also on the bill in March, Charity Chuckle regular Sam Savage came second in the New Act of the Year 2013 award, aka the Hackney New Act of the Year. Sam will be doing new material from her forthcoming Edinburgh show.
Then we were asked by Nicky Hadyn of Otherplace Productions and Upstairs at the Three and Ten to do a Brighton Fringe show at pop-up venue The Warren, winner of BEST VENUE in 2012. So off we traipsed to the Brighton Fringe launch, dripping with press and Hendricks gin. The gig will be on Monday 20th May 2013 with a very exciting line-up.
We decided to give April over to So You Think You’re Funny contestants. With past winners including Dylan Moran and Peter Kay, this is the national comedy competition that everyone wants to win, and the Brighton heat is always a stonking gig. Come to Charity Chuckle on Tuesday 2nd April at the Latest MusicBar and see the cream of the new acts fighting it out.
Fast rising stars Carl Donnelly and Luisa Omielan are booked to headline June and July. We saw Carl in Edinburgh and you may have seen him on telly on Mock the Week and Dave’s One Night Stand. Luisa compered December’s Charity Chuckle at the Komedia and her show What Would Beyonce Do? is selling out all around the country.
She trains professionals – care workers, doctors, psychiatrists, foster carers, teachers – who have to deal with autistic people.
“And when you were a kid?” I asked her yesterday.
“Council house kid,” she said. “Scholarship. Private school. Croydon. Left at 16. Went to live in squats. For years and years, I was a squatter. Squatting in London in the early 1980s, as soon as I left school. Dropped out completely. Punk. Got pregnant. Lived in a van with my daughter. Dreadlocks. Dog on string. Travelling around a bit. Moved to Devon. I’ve only looked sensible in the last ten years. I’m a bit of a late starter.”
Charity Chuckle has been raising funds through stand-up since June 2009. From single parent families to the long-term unemployed, from sufferers of drug addiction to dicky tickers, even small amounts of money can keep these charities going. In 2011 alone, we raised over £3,000 for local charities.
We’ve organised events to benefit the whole community and the money raised depends almost entirely on the number of people we get through the door, so your custom is always extremely welcome!
There’s usually a raffle too, just to add that little extra to the pot.
More than anything, by hosting a live comedy event we hope to provide something a little bit different for those involved in the charitable sector and the local community. But we’re not exclusive… anyone with an irresistible urge to laugh, clap or throw money in a bucket can come too.
If you would like to be considered for a Charity Chuckle fundraiser, please email kerry (at) charitychuckle (dot) co (dot)uk
Please see below for details of some of the charities we’ve helped over the years.
Charity Chuckle’s final hurrah last year at the Brighton Komedia had the TOP NEW ACTS of 2012, all award winners and future stars of comedy – Luisa Omielan, Lucy Beaumont, Ingrid Dahle – and of course the incredible Lucy Porter headlining.
Also for the very first time at a UK comedy gig there was a flash mob before the show to add to the fun. Talk about a warm-up routine! Check it out:
The dance linked the 16 Days to End Violence Against Women campaign together with One Billion Rising, a global event to be held around the 14th Feb 2013 to raise awareness of Violence Against Women, particularly domestic violence.
Our next gig is on Tuesday 12th February back at the Latest MusicBar at 8.30pm. Our headliner is JOEL DOMMETT, a very funny man and rather hot to boot, ladies! He’s a nunchucking silver medalist (“skill”, not violence :)) so he might be a bit of a mover. Maybe we’ll test it out with a bit of a dance…
Lucy Porter, Jo Neary, Joe Wells, Ingrid Dahle, David James, Helen Arney, Rachel Parris, Lucy Beaumont and compered by Tiffany Stevenson.
LUCY PORTER headlines a fantastic night of top-notch stand-up comedy, helping to raise laughs, awareness and funds for local charities this Christmas.
The night is set to be the entertainment highlight of the Brighton and Hove “16 Days to End Violence Against Women” events.
Tickets are likely to sell fast, so book now and arrive early for an extra special treat.
Guaranteed to put the fun into fundraising!
Tickets: £12 or £10 concessions from the Brighton Komedia Box Office;
Phone: 0845 293 8480; or online at www.komedia.co.uk/brighton
Charities: RISE and SURVIVORS NETWORK
Supporting survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Can’t make the Charity Chuckle Christmas Cracker at the Komedia on Tuesday 4th December? Well of course we’ll miss you terribly, but if you’d like to you can still donate. I’ve set up a Justgiving page where all the funds will go directly to Rise, the Sussex domestic violence charity. Christmas is a time for bashing, so please give generously. You may save a life.
Lucy Porter gave an interview to BBC Radio Sussex on Friday to talk about the 16 Days campaign against domestic violence. Lucy will be appearing at Charity Chuckle this month as part of the campaign.
Lucy talks about marriage, life as a working mum comedian and how the issue of domestic violence has affected her family.
You can find Lucy’s interview twenty minutes into the Sarah Gorrell drivetime show on iplayer here:
Slight change of November line-up: Mark Stephenson will be appearing in the place of Chris Boyd. Mark won silver in the 2011 Laughing Horse New Act of the Year competition. Look out for Chris at Charity Chuckle next year with his storm chasing set.
Charity Chuckle has a real knack for grabbing some of the best up-and-coming comedians around and booking them just as they’ve started to win plaudits, television appearances and radio spots. So, with this in mind, it was with great glee but no surprise that it was heard that their September headliner is this year’s winner of the Funny’s Funny 2012 national competition: Sam Savage.
Sam’s comedy funny bones have been entertaining us for a while, her unique off-the-wall and slightly batty persona has been gathering momentum, playing smaller spots at Charity Chuckle (now there’s an eye for a talent in a pair of bookers!) and now holding her own at the top of the bill as this month’s headliner.
All profits from the evening will be going to the British Heart Foundation, an organisation that support act Dave Blood has been involved with for some time, having had major heart surgery at the beginning of this year and been an avid fundraiser for, for some years. With sponsored exertion out of the picture for the time being he suggested a Charity Chuckle show might be his way of contributing to the cause. CC organisers and gigging comics Jim Holland and Kerry Herbert were happy to oblige.
Jim and Kerry have a great track record on booking some of the best, with previous headline and support acts including two of 2012’s Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award 2012 nominees – David Trent and James Acaster, as well as such comedy luminaries as Angelos Epithemiou, Brian Gittens, Zoe Lyons and many more. In the last year alone the regular monthly comedy nights have raised over £3,500 for a variety of charities, mostly local, nurturing strong roots in the community and supporting those that need it most – and ensuring a great night out for all.
Other acts on this month’s bill include Graham Collard, Kayo, Mike Cox, Alex Petrovic and Melissa Moreman.
A sneak peek at October’s (Tuesday 9) fundraiser for Amaze offers further treats, with Nick Helm headlining fresh from collecting rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe. With this calibre of acts consistently headlining, it’s well worth becoming a regular punter – giving something back to your community and getting your fill of cutting-edge comedy breakthroughs all in one place.
Looking for a hilarious Christmas party with no mess or fuss?
CHARITY CHUCKLE CHRISTMAS CRACKER! Tuesday 4th December 2012 at the Brighton Komedia
Lucy Porter, Jo Neary, David James, Helen Arney, Joe Wells, Rachel Parris, Ingrid Dahle and now with BBC2 New Comedy Award Winner, Lucy Beaumont!
Compered by Tiffany Stevenson, as seen in Show Me the Funny.
LUCY PORTER headlines a fantastic night of top-notch stand-up comedy, helping to raise laughs, awareness and funds for local charities this Christmas.
The night is set to be the entertainment highlight of the
Brighton and Hove “16 Days to End Violence Against Women” events.
Tickets are likely to sell fast, so book now and arrive early for an extra special treat.
Guaranteed to put the fun into fundraising!
Tickets: £12 or £10 concessions from the Brighton Komedia Box Office;
Phone: 0845 293 8480; or online at www.komedia.co.uk/brighton
Charities: RISE and SURVIVORS NETWORK
Supporting female survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse.
A fabulous night of live comedy to benefit Fun In Action, a befriending support service for disadvantaged children in Brighton and Hove.
For one night only, Charity Chuckle brings to Brighton for the very first time the very best No 1 new comedian in the country, AISLING BEA! This August 2012, Irish comedian Aisling (pronounced Ash-ling) won the UK’s most prestigious new comedy competition, So You Think You’re Funny? Previous winners have been Dylan Moran, Peter Kay and Tommy Tiernan. Runners up include Sarah Millican, Seann Walsh and Alan Carr. I know!!!
Get down to sunny Kemptown, Brighton, find yourself in a warm cabaret atmosphere of the Latest MusicBar watching the very best that new comedy has to offer, and help put the fun into fundraising.
Headliner: AISLING BEA, 2012 Winner of So You Think You’re Funny?
Support: Martin Stephenson, Silver medalist of Laughing Horse New Act of the Year 2011; Rich Perry, SYTYF finalist; Joe Foster, SYTYF semi-finalist; Sarah Hendrickx, Funny Women finalist; witty new act, Dan Fardell, and compered by the warm and lovely Julie Jepson.
Charity: Fun in Action
Latest MusicBar, Manchester St, Brighton BN2 1TF. 01273 687171. Tickets £8/£5 http://www.wegottickets.com/comedy/event/183810
We are very sorry, but Nick Helm is unable to perform at Charity Chuckle due to an injury. We are working hard to find a replacement. While we are sure you will enjoy the show, and all profits will still go to local charity Amaze, if you would like a refund please contact We Got Tickets for online sales and Latest MusicBar on 01273 687171 for phone sales.
Nick Helm’s new show, This Means War!, will be in the Brighton Comedy Festival at the Dome on the 17th October.
ZOE LYONS, Romesh Ranganathan, Nathaniel Metcalfe, Darren Maskell, Claire Parker and Aidan Goatley (MC)
Charity:
Profits from this show will go to Brighton charity, AMAZE, working with parents of children with special needs.
Zoe Lyons performs new material from her show Pop Up Comic (the Dome, 14th), along with Romesh Ranganathan who was the surprise new hit of the Opening Gala, and on top of all this there may even be a special guest popping in from the Brighton Comedy Festival!
NB:Tickets are are available on the door but likely to sell out fast so speedy boarding will be given to those who have pre-booked.
FORTHCOMING SHOWS – the Autumn/Winter collection:
Shows to put the fun into fundraising so you’ll have something saintly to look forward to this autumn.
Tues 13th November
Headliner: AISLING BEA, 2012 Winner of So You Think You’re Funny?
Support: Chris Boyd, with a new set about storm chasing; Jo Foster, SYTYF semi-finalist; Sarah Hendrickx, Funny Women finalist.
Charity: Fun in Action
Latest MusicBar, Manchester St, Brighton BN2 1TF. 01273 687171. Tickets £8/£5 http://www.wegottickets.com/comedy/event/183810
Tues 4th December
Charity Chuckle: Stand-Up to End Violence Against Women
Headliner: LUCY PORTER
Support: Jo Neary, Joe Wells, Mae Martin, Rachel Parris, David James.
Charities: RISE and Survivor’s Network
Komedia, 44-47 Gardner St, Brighton, BN1 1UN http://komediabrighton.ticketsolve.com/shows/873485431/events
Please note: line-up is subject to change without notice due to unforeseen circumstances. In such an event we will endeavour to find a suitable replacement and notify ticket holders via social media. Profits will still go to the local charity.
Somehow on New Years Eve 2013/14, flush with the success of booking the 41st best stand-up ever, drunk on the buzz of an incredible December gig with Sara Pascoe and… well… drunk… we resolved to do a Charity Chuckle run at the Edinburgh Fringe 2014.
We’d made it a late one because – hey, it was the Fringe! – and he’d been filming for 
Charity Chuckle 