BURNING Duck Comedy Club promoter Al Greaves has 30 shows in place for 2019, his diary bolstered by establishing the Last Tuesday Comedy Club.
Held, as the name would suggest, on the last Tuesday of every month, at The Basement, City Screen, the shows will be hosted by resident MC Danielle Ward, a comedian and new mother to boot, who has settled in York, and wants to join Al in boosting the city's comedy scene.
"Danielle started performing stand-up in 2004 and has written for The News Quiz; Mongrels; The Lee Mack Show; Not Going Out; Horrible Histories and Anna & Katy, among other things," says Al. "She's now the head writer for Danger Mouse on children's TV," says Al.
"She invented, hosts and writes the Sony Award-winning podcast Do The Right Thing, and you can now download the sixth series."
Lou Sanders: York and Leeds dates
Michael Legge is confirmed for the first Last Tuesday on February 26 and further shows are booked in for March 26 and April 30, with more details to be confirmed shortly.
Before the Last Tuesday launch, the Burning Duck diary for 2019 opens with double Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Ahir Shah's Duffer show on January 18 at The Basement.
"People queued for several hours to see Ahir when Duffer– his seventh show – completely sold out its Edinburgh Fringe run last summer, " says Al. "It's an extraordinary, heart-breaking/warming hour about his grandmother’s deportation from the UK to India when he was five years old, and he also delves into such topics as politics, family, religion and his mental-health struggles.
"My show covers life and what comes after, death and what comes before, and... Bohemian Rhapsody," says Ahir.
Thirty shows and rising: York and now Leeds comedy promoter Al Greaves
Al is adding a 6pm show for Justin Moorhouse after the Manchester comic's 8pm performance of Northern Joker at the 85-capacity Basement on January 25 sold out.
These days Moorhouse is not certain about anything apart from his uncertainty. "Brexit looms; it appears the Cold War is being rebooted, and that’s before we begin to worry about what’s happening in America," he says.
"Closer to home, I'm starting to feel redundant as a parent.On top of this, the golden age of the Northern straight white male comedian has gone the way of the dinosaurs."
How will Moorhouse adapt if he wants to survive? What next for this Northern Joker? All will be answered on January 25.
Society's new-found fondness for moral certainty is the subject of a search-and-destroy mission by Alfie Brown in Lunatic, his first UK tour show, at The Basement on February 16, as he discusses identity politics, trying to be a good father in a horrible world and being responsibly horny in the wake of widespread male sex crimes. Expect no answers, only questions.
Johannes Dullin, a German comedian who lives in Switzerland, is booked in for February 24; Glenn Wool, comfortably in his forties and a new dad, delves into his past material spanning 25 years to revisit his more subversive routines to decide whether he still agree with those points of view or grown up in Wool's Gold 2 (The Iron Pirate) on February 24.
Germany calling: Johannes Dullin heads for York
In her debut show Olga Koch; Fight, Olga reflects on how her father was stopped by authorities on the Russian border in 2014, resulting in the most surreal year of her family’s life: a real-life spy drama she dissects with nothing but a projector on February 28.
Two further shows have sold out, prompting Al to add an extra nights for Carl Hutchinson and contemplate doing likewise for Kiri Pritchard McLean.
Geordie comic Hutchinson will present I Know I Shouldn't Behave Like This at The Crescent on July 29, in addition to March 22 at The Basement, as he takes an adolescent approach to grown-up issues, from buying a house to having children.
Watch this space for confirmation of whether and when Pritchard McLean will add a second performance of Victim, Complex, a show about victims, love and lies, after selling out her March 29 date.
Further details of Burning Duck's year ahead will follow in a later What's On. Meanwhile, Al is expanding his portfolio by mounting additional shows at the Hyde Park Book Club In Leeds, with Lou Sanders (May 24, Basement) and Pritchard McLean booked in for both cities.
"I'm just dipping my toe in Leeds, looking to build up an audience, helping a bit there with Lolshevism, Leeds's 'leading Socialist Feminist Comedy Night'," he says.
Burning Duck's comedy nights take place at The Basement, unless stated otherwise. Tickets can be booked at burningduckcomedy.com.
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