The Other Side Comedy Club, City Screen, York

FRESH from talent scouting at the Edinburgh Fringe and hosting a City Screen satellite link-up with The Village director M Night Shyamalan, York's live comedy baron, the wildly woolly Dan Atkinson, has lined up 43 acts for your comic delectation this autumn. Resident MC Dan takes Charles Hutchinson on a guided tour of The Other Side Comedy Club.

For the uninitiated, please provide a potted history of your comedy club

"Started in the year 2001, The Other Side has been bringing the best in international and UK stand-up to City Screen, York, for three long years. As an independent comedy club run by working comics, our commitment is to providing the most up-to-date, edgy and exciting new comedy instead of lining our pockets at your expense."

Who will be the cream of the crop this season?

"Definitely Ian Cognito. We've had him down a couple of times over the years and he is so exciting because of his unpredictability. He's a force of irrepressible rage and still manages to be wickedly funny. Anything, literally anything could happen; last time he was here he introduced himself by walking on stage and hammering a nail into the wall to hang his coat on."

Who else?

"Tanyalee Davis is great: she's an international star from the Los Angeles comedy circuit (now there's some tough clubs to play!). The fact that she's a dwarf seems not to matter once she's on stage because of her acid wit. She's only doing a handful of gigs in the UK and we've been selected over many larger venues (get us!).

"Andrew Lawrence is coming here to do a full set after winning the York Comedy Festival National Talent Hunt in June, and that should be fabulous. He was the winner by a mile and is destined for greatness, I reckon."

You may be biased, of course, but it looks another strong season, doesn't it?

"We have Ben Norris and Mike Gunn on the same bill; truly a double-headliner if ever there was one. There's the chance to see Russell Brand off E4's Big Brother show and classic stand-up in December from Perrier-nominated Donna McPhail. It's getting hard to recommend particular shows these days because the atmosphere in the club seems to pull really top-notch performances out of everyone. The audiences are so warm and the small space means that the interaction is sitting on your lap."

You took the gamble of going weekly, switching from the initial fortnightly format. Good decision?

"Now it's weekly it seems to be working OK. Last season I was worried about attendance, but it stayed high and everyone had a good time as far as I could tell. They laughed, anyway."

Is there a comic trend running through this season's acts?

"The direction we've tried to take this season is cutting edge, I suppose. We've got a high proportion of real 'of-the-moment' comics, as opposed to some of the safer bets we've made in previous seasons. This was a conscious decision to keep at the forefront of what's left of the alternative circuit: I'd hate to end up pandering to the trends because once you do that, you lose the individuality and the special excitement that can be lacking in larger venues. The plan is just to keep putting comedy up there weekly."

How is your nascent TV career progressing after your hair-shredding appearance on BBC3's Body Hits?

"My TV career lasted half an hour, and was suitably droll I suppose. They kindly didn't butcher me in the edit, just in real life. It was the least they could do."

The Other Side Comedy Club has a laugh every Sunday at 7.30pm, in the Basement Bar, City Screen, Coney Street, York. All tickets cost £7, concessions £6, available in advance from City Screen on 01904 541144, except for SightSonic show (see SightSonic brochure for details).

Dates for the diary

September 5, Mark Walker, James Dowdeswell, Sarah Bennetto; September 12, Russell Brand, Gary Delaney, Owen Niblock; September 19, Ian Stone, Juliet Myers, Geoff Taylor; September 26, Rob Rouse, Andrew Lawrence, Deian Vincent.

October 3, Sully O Sullivan, Ayisha Hazarika, Mike Milligan, Matt Green; October 10, Hal Cruttenden, Greg Davies, Neil Magee; October 17, special SightSonic show, At Home With the Howards, Howard Read and animated cohort-in-comedy Little Howard, at Temple Hall, York St John College; October 24, Mark Maier, Dan Evans, Adam Bowman; October 31, Dave Johns, Henrik Elmer, Dave Bishop.

November 7, Howard Read, Susan Murray, Simon Douglass; November 14, Ian Cognito, Mark Watson, Dan Siron; November 21, Pierre Hollins, Geoff Whiting, Simon Dunn; November 28, Tanyalee Davis, Alex Horne, Ian Fox.

December 5, Mike Gunn, Ben Norris, Mike Belgrave; December 12, Donna McPhail, Mundo Jazz, plus more.

No one can stop resident MC Dan Atkinson introducing each show, each week.

Updated: 15:38 Thursday, August 19, 2004