Manchester's premiere comedy club, The Frog And Bucket, which has been the host and springboard for several well-known comedians, is now back up and fulling running once again after our covid closures. I went along to one of their regular events, held each Monday evening, which is known as 'Beat The Frog'. (no euphemism intended...!) This event is where aspiring or fledgling comedians can come to see if they can deliver a five-minute spot without being voted off by three members of the audience. Each Monday therefore is a completely different line-up - but you get to see 12 comedians giving the F+B a go at the very start of their careers, which is both exciting for us, and undoubtedly nerve-racking for them!
The evening is compered by Danny McLoughlin, who himself was once one of the competitors in this laugh-market, and his banter this evening was gained through finding people in the audience to chat with and having the quick-wittedness and repartee-arsenal to have a funny come-back for almost every situation he encountered. He came across as both sympathetic and empathetic to both his audience and fellow comedians, and held the whole together well. A personable comedian who knew his way around a heckle!
Three audience members were chosen - and their role is simply to hold up the frog card during the comedians' acts if they are not finding them funny, or not entertaining the crowd sufficiently. Don't worry - all 12 comedians knew the score and knew that they might be "booed" off the stage - that was part of the 'game' this evening, and all were willing to try and beat the audience (ie, beat the frogs - hence the title).
Three audience members were chosen - and their role is simply to hold up the frog card during the comedians' acts if they are not finding them funny, or not entertaining the crowd sufficiently. Don't worry - all 12 comedians knew the score and knew that they might be "booed" off the stage - that was part of the 'game' this evening, and all were willing to try and beat the audience (ie, beat the frogs - hence the title).
This evening's 12 lambs-to-the-slaughter were Adam Brides, Ben Shevlin, Dustin Moore, Jimmy Shirley, Ben Robinson, Emman Idama, Danny Carine, Joshua Mason Wood, Andrew Michael Grogan, Matt Ashton, Sam Thurston, and Dan Martin. Surprisingly all 12 were the story-telling comedians, and as such, very few were able to elicit a laugh within the first 30 seconds, as they needed to start the story before getting to the funny parts, never mind the punchline. We had stories about (in comedian order): drugs and counselling; surviving a brain injury; being a new parent during lockdown; being a Scouser in Greece; applying to be on 'Naked Attraction'; racism from and to a Nigerian Dubliner; a baptism of fire doing stand-up for the very first time this evening; living on a boat and having a posh accent; being a very straight-talking no-nonsense gay, ginger, emo; French language puns; going into a strip club; and finally, stories of nationality from a Romanian living in Oldham.
Only six of the 12 survived their five minutes. These six were then invited back up onto the stage in police line-up format, as we were invited to clap for the one who we thought the funniest of the evening. And this evening's winner was Emman Idama.
The evening started at 8pm and finished around the 10:20pm mark, with two short breaks in between the comedians. The evening is unrushed and laid-back, and with a licensed bar and pizzas available throughout the night with doors to the club opening at 6:45pm (table service), the majority twenty-somethings audence made an evening of the show, lapping the whole atmosphere up with slightly inebriated bonhomie. I would say from an older person's perspective that the disco lights and loud techno music prior to the start of the evening were most unwelcome - but maybe I'm just being a grumpy old so-and-so here!
Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu
on - 24.1.22
Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu
on - 24.1.22
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