Weekend preview, the purveying of laughter

This week a bright light in the comedy world was taken from us, and no sooner had the sad news of Victoria Woods passing hit us then we lost another icon from the music world. It's hard to try and find an upbeat way of talking about anything when a celebrity we feel we know personally is taken by the reaper, who seemingly is trying to impress for a promotion or something.

Life goes on for the rest of us though and for the majority of us we will still be turning up at work on Monday, sill be going to tennis club or watching Netflix or maybe keeping an eye on Citeh in the champions league, The OJ Simpson TV series has come to an end, (spoiler alert for those who recorded it for catch up but he gets off!!) which has left my Mondays nights free so maybe I'll give reading another go, apparently there are some good books out there that I could smugly state are better than the movie once I've read them because we all know you are a better human if you read the book before watching the film.

It is of course business as usual for those of us who's place in life is the purveying of laughter and we have another brilliant week of funnies coming at you, well, taking place, you'd need to come to us really and that borderline aggressive at you part.. its more a 'for you' thing.

Wednesday at Jacaranda we have another smorgasbord (amazingly according to sepll check I spelt that correctly 1st time) of professional acts playing with their new bits which is kind of metaphorical but most certainly not a euphemism (I did spell that wrong!).
Among the acts bringing the funnies are George Zach, the Grecian adopted Geordie is acutely aware of the stupidity in this world and delivers his observations on this impeccably.
Andy Watson will also be on and he is an almost elastic human with the ability to physically perform a joke like no one I have ever seen, I'm not entirely sure he isn't one of the fantastic 4. Joining them will be Pete Phillipson, I had the pleasure of hosting a gig that Pete was headlining recently, dry and smart Pete is able to find the funny in mundane so his new stuff is bound to be worth listening to.

Thursday 28th April we are simply treating comedy fans to 2 absolute heavy weights of intentional comedy. 2 acts that have made people vomit laughter all over the world, the sort of comedians that are so on top of their game you will probably crease over with snot running down your face clasping for air. I'm not even exaggerating, they are so so so good you may die.

1st of all Canadian Glen Wool is on at the Holiday Inn with his tour show, just... go see it, nothing more to say

alternatively get to Boiling point at the crown hotel for Brendan Burns the Ozzy powerhouse of a comedian is, to use a football analogy, a ballon D'or contender every year!


The weekend highlight sees Liverpools own Adam Rowe at Hoylake social club on Friday, a star of the future, what he hasn't overheard on a bus isn't worth overhearing! Adam is going to be massive so go see him now.

Saturday at Holiday Inn, another opportunity to see Brendan Burns and joining him will be Glen Wools support act the brilliant John Hastings. The Canadian was nominated for Canada's newcomer of the year in 2006 and if he was good back then we'll he is sensational now. As chortle stated Ironically for a man who suffers from coordination disorder dyspraxia, he has some very neat analogies and well structured tidy routines.

It's another exciting week so get your tickets booked and we will see you there then yeah? Ok yeah, great.

J x

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Tickets available for all comedy shows from www.hotwatercomedy.co.uk

Weekend preview: Award winners and newbies

Monday's eh? They turn up every week like some sort of punishment for having survived the weekend, and so we crawl into work through traffic the makes a 15 minute journey take 2 hours while we have the kind of miserable feeling that makes you wonder if attending a close family members funeral might be the little bit more upbeat.

Ok maybe that's just my Monday but as Tom Jones really wanted to say before the edit, it's not unusual to need something to look forward to, well, we may just have the answer because this week we have some belting line ups the sort that make comedy fans do backflips naked through Debenhams!

Let's start with Wednesday, they had another decent result at the weekend with a 1-1 draw at home to Ipsw.... Sorry I forgot which blog I was worrying for a moment then.
Wednesday 20th April, a date in history that has 'attend Jacaranda' written all over it as our resident compere and maker of fine quality jeans (must be the same bloke it's hardly a common name) Paul Smith introduces pro acts playing around with new ideas and new jokes... This isn't your average open mic night where you get total newbies all doing several jokes about Jimmy Saville and touching themselves, oh no this is top acts testing things that could well be heard on live at the Apollo in a few months time or at the very least on our stage at the weekend all polished up.

There's something so magical about watching comedians test new ideas and I urge and implore you to get a seat on the front row and inhale the mirth as it comes at you in raw form.

This week among others we have absolute LAD!! (No really check him out talking about this!!) And BBC newcomer award winner 2013 Steve Bugeja and the ever mischievous and highly in demand Danny Deegan a seasoned headline act that is sure to have something that even if he never says it again will be well worth your time!

Thursday we have boiling point at the crown, Liverpool and again Paul Smith will gently tickle you until you are ready for Simon Wozniak and JoJo Sutherland to rub your belly until the laughter causes  endorphins that even chocolate can't provide you with.

Wozniak is on fire right now, yknow, metaphorically... Although for one so new given how good he is many comedians would like to burn him! Sutherland had been described as deliciously cruel and the kind of performer you could watch all night, I say... Go see for yourself, you won't be disappointed.

Friday and Saturday we have triple headline shows and let's be honest, if you were to describe the midweek shows as solid and exciting under cards then the heavyweights landing comedy blows at the Holiday inn this weekend will have round after round of knockout jokes and other boxing analogy type things too "ding ding"

Dan Nightingale, Peter McCole and Jo Caulfield are the aforementioned big hitters and let's just say that if you'd expect Florence Nightingale to nurse you back to health then fully expect Dan to have you in stitches! (Yeah I liked that one too) Peter McCole has a warmth and charm about his comedy that just makes it all the more enjoyable. Jo Caulfield needs no introduction, she is so very good it actually makes me sick! Like how can a comedian be that in charge on stage and make me vomit laughter so much it feels like I'm having a mild stroke!! Just wow, but as ever don't take my word for it, go see for yourself.

J x

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Check out all this weekends show here

Jacaranda: Blind Date

Well, I must say, this week of gigs got off to quite the start with our usual Wednesday night new material night at the Jacaranda. In the seven weeks since this gig began it has become a real highlight in my week. It’s attracting good numbers of real comedy fans who seem to really appreciate the rawness of the show. Yea, ok, some stuff doesn’t work, and yea the weekend shows are more polished but, if you are a person who watches a lot of comedy then this free show definitely provides something different… and special.

This week saw a particularly varied and rowdy audience who I took to immediately. From Jan in the second row who was very angrily enjoying her birthday with her family, to Jacob and his young girlfriend (perhaps too young), and Jean the super smooth french student who while passing through the city thought he would catch some comedy and,with some help from me, also caught the attentions of some student regulars. There were plenty of characters for me to play with. A comperes dream. Anyone who MC’s often will know the feeling of joy when the audience laugh rapturously within seconds of the show beginning. The feeling of ‘Yep, this is gonna be easy’, and easy it was as the first two acts, Tom Short and Hannah Silvester both did wonderfully well with their new material.

From here things just got better and better, when we started the second section we had gained ten to fifteen new audience members, something which at some shows could be a huge pain as rules have to be reiterated and old ground has to be re-trodden in order to bring the new people into the fold and ensure they understand what is happening. Luckily for me this gig has a special kind of atmosphere, one which seems to make people just connect and slot right in. I retook the stage to find a completely new front row and once again within seconds I was flying. Letting them know what they had missed and discovering that these people were characters themselves, then, a man entered the room looking lost. If you haven’t been to this venue then I must explain that the entrance to the room brings you into the centre of the audience. That is where Maya (as I came to find out his name was), a very well dressed and softly spoken asian man found himself, unaware of the comedy night and feeling rather exposed. I asked him if he was ok and told him to sit down, which he reluctantly did. All the while still scanning the room like a meerkat in danger.

I asked what was up? To which he replied he was looking for Angie. Ok, I thought… Angie! Angie! I called out. Looking for Maya’s lost friend. A women on the front row pointed out a lady next her… “This is Angie”... But they were almost next to each other, surely they would have seen and noticed each other by now. “Is this Angie?” I asked. “I don’t know” Maya Replied, “It’s a blind date”….. NO!... I could not believe it. The crowd went into hysterics as my excitement got the better of me! How? Why? Why would you sit at the front of a comedy club to wait for a blind date. Both Maya and Angie blushed as they looked at each other for some idea of what to do next. I could not believe this was happening. Surely I’m not this lucky.

Correct. After the excitement died down and I could speak again. Angie, reveal she was not the Angie he was looking for. Coincidence had ruined my moment and it seemed the story. The crowd groaned with disappointment. I felt the same. None felt it more than Maya though. “Oh, god, this is the 4th time this week. I give up on older women” He cried with exacerbation. I had to ask… “Why, how old is Angie?. “In her sixties, I have a thing for older women” said Maya. Oh my god. I was shocked, the crowd was shocked, Front row Angie was shocked and a little insulted as she herself was only in her thirties. We all felt Maya’s pain whilst thinking ‘OK, he’s a bit weird’. This is a room of acceptance though, a group of all types and ages, brought together through this shared experience and willing, at that point, to embrace Maya, Milf fetish and all. Elliot, the awesome bar man swooped in and gave Maya a beer, he settled in and the show continued with two more great sets from Binty Blair and Rob Mulholland.

During the break Maya spoke to me at the bar, explaining his story fully, he had met this woman online and was supposed to meet her here. Seemingly she had had other ideas. But, Elliot to the rescue once more. Realising that he knew an Angie who fitted Maya’s description he told him that the woman he may be looking for was a poet who ran a spoken word night in the room two floors up. This clicked with Maya and the hope that he may just be in the wrong room grew. Three shots for courage later he went to find his elderly paramore.

The show restarted. I let the group know the fate of Maya. We all felt good, ready for our headliner. Karen Bayley took to the stage and immediately found her stride. The group took to her straight away and settled down for a headline set. Ten minutes in though, Maya returned, with Angie! The room went wild, I went wild, Karen hopped with glee. Angie had no clue what the fuck was going on. “How are you Angie” Karen asked. “Ok”, Angie replied sternly. She had the confidence of a performer but with the added embarrassment of the situation and all of these strangers focused she stuttered a little before choosing to blatantly lie. “We are just friends” she protested. “How come he didn’t know what you looked like then” Came the question flying from the audience, “erm….” She quickly relented and kissed Maya. It was as beautiful as an elderly woman kissing a man in his twenties had ever been and we all rejoiced! We would remember this night for a long time.

Gig review by Paul Smith

Want to get involved?

Our next show at the Jacaranda is on Wednesday 20th April with another fantastic lineup including closer DANNY DEEGAN & it's FREE ENTRY. 

Get your tickets here here

My First Time.......

Nothing beats the excitement, apprehension and nerves of doing stand-up comedy for the first time, making that step on stage and standing there with the microphone, realising everything you have worked for has built up to this moment, rehearsing all those lines, making sure you deliver everything as clearly as possible, but I decided to quit karaoke nights because they weren’t going anywhere and thought I’d give stand up a go instead. 

The first challenge is how you reach that point where you get on stage, who do you talk to? What do you ask them? Promoters posting for gigs for “brand new acts” and then completely disappearing when you enquire about them, it’s the film equivalent of Jack & Rose on the door in the Titanic, there’s room for more but, you know, you know what happened there. 

So instead of turning into some warped comedy version of Stan by Eminem, writing out to 40 promoters a week to no avail and driving my car off the Runcorn Bridge, I decided to speak to people who I know who have done it, and was fortunate enough to be given a chance to do it. 

The build up to the night was nerve wracking, in the toilets beforehand like the beginning of 8 Mile even though there are only 30 people in the crowd and half of them aren’t really listening anyway. The fear of being frozen in the same spot, this was the moment you have told all your friends about, you’re going to finally get up there and try it, they’re all telling you you can do it but you still doubt yourself, for me it took the support from a very special person close to me; Heather, she gave me the confidence and drive to finally get up there, despite how terrifying the task seemed, I finally felt like I could get up there and do it. 

But as with most things in life, how you picture it and how it builds up in your head is far more terrifying than how it actually pans out, standing up there with the microphone, the room is deftly silent, you can feel the anticipation in the room, and the adrenaline kicks in, once you get that first laugh you get the bug, and it’s the best feeling in the world, and once you have finished and done it, it’s an incredible feeling. 

Then it’s back to emailing other promoters to get back up there and try it all again because you never want to climb back down, slowly descending into a Stan-like mess in your basement. PS someone give me a gig.

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Always been the comedian in your group? Fancy yourself as a stand up comedian?

Check out our beginners comedy courses hosted by our resident compere Paul Smith. Our next course starts on May 2nd. Find our how to book your place here

Relate to this story? Find it interesting?

Get yourselves down to Hot Water Comedy Club every Sunday for 'Testing the Water' featuring some brand new acts going through this exact same thing.

Visit www.hotwatercomedy.co.uk for more information

We're now blogging!

Welcome to Hot water comedy blog, this is the place to get your bitesize portions of information about what's happening at one of the north west, if not the country in fact let's go all out, the worlds best comedy clubs.

Those of you that have been before will know the just how amazing each line up is, the reason? Because at hot water we fill the changing room with bubble wrap that the acts are allowed to pop, there are kittens in the rider (although after an incident in 2011 it's stated they aren't for dinner) and of course we supply cakes... While most of that is made up what is true is that Hot Water Comedy club is where the top circuit comedians want to perform and a great value night out is had by all who come.

We will now be blogging weekly, because you know that what happened next isn't that mind blowing and what she did next won't really shock you so why click on those links and waste your lunch break reading nonesense seemingly written by someone who made poor career choices and keep up with us where you can read articles by someone who definitely made poor career choices but isn't pretending they are capable of better!

Coming up in the next few weeks and months are some acts that are so good they will blow your mind! Ok I'll stop that now but seriously guys we have Glenn Wool, no that's not a bloke called glen from the Wirral but rather a superb Canadian flavoured comic who is sagely political and deliciously silly.

We also have Brendan Burns, the Aussie powerhouse is a joy to behold and has wowed audiences with sell out shows such as I suppose THIS is offensive now and Brendan vs Burnsy.

We also have Sinnerman Paul Sinha, a qualified Dr, formidable chaser on ITV's the Chase and of course insanely good comedian.. There is no point in me telling you more, get your tickets and we will see you at the show, for more details head to www.hotwatercomedy.co.uk (Liverpool) or www.hotwatercomedy.co.uk/Manchester (Manchester)

Hot Water Comedy Club has launched in Manchester

Hot Water Comedy Club has launched in Manchester!

After 6 great years providing the very best in live stand up comedy 5 nights a week in Liverpool, Hot Water Comedy have expanded into Manchester with 2 new weekly shows.

Every Saturday night will see their flagship 'Triple Headline' shows at The Renaissance Hotel that only feature the very best comedians from around the world. There are already some incredible acts booked in including 'Mock the Week' star Gary Delaney and star of 'The Chase' Paul Sinha along with some more great comedians.

View all of the current lineups here along with comedian profiles.

The first 2 shows (Launched on 2nd April) have been a massive success and already attracted 4 5 star reviews on TripAdvisor quickly climbing the ladder of great things to do in Manchester.

Get yourselves down to Hot Water Comedy Club soon to see what all the fuss is about.

When: Every Saturday Night

Where: Renaissance Hotel, Blackfriars Street, Manchester, M3 2EQ

Tickets: £15 / £10 Concessions

Time: Doors 7pm / Show 8pm

More details can be found on the Hot Water Comedy Club website here

Jacaranda 'New Material' Wednesday Nights in Liverpool

Hot Water Comedy brings a brand new night to Liverpool, in it's new addition to it's already growing repertoire of venues, Jacaranda Basement.

The Jac as it is more locally known, was home to the first gig of small indie band known to few, The Beatles, and in keeping with that ethos, will now play host to some of best comedy talent road testing their 'New Material'

The Jac has recently undergone a complete refurbishment and reopened back in 2014 with a fresh new look but hasn't lost it's original charm.

The night will be geared towards pro comics who have new material that they want to run out before taking it to the weekend clubs or on tour. It will play host to Hot Water comedy favourites and could very well be a place where the classic comedy routines of the future are formed. So if you like your comedy pure, raw and rough round the edges then be sure to get down to the Jac every Wednesday night.  

When: Every Wednesday

Where: The Jacaranda Basement, L1 4BW

Time: Doors 7pm / Show 8pm

Tickets: FREE ENTRY

Reserve booking is highly recommended as these shows get very very busy

You can reserve your tickets from Hot Water Comedy Club