Comedy club set for its debut night
STAND-UP favourite Lee Kyle is set to score a whole new set of fans as he helps to launch a comedy club in Gateshead.
The comedian will be taking to the stage in Low Fell this November for the first of what are hoped to become monthly events with line-ups boasting established headliners and emerging talents.
The newly-formed – and independently-run – Cutting Hedge Comedy Club will make its debut at Gateshead Rugby Football Club which regularly organises community festivals.
Known for its popular annual beer festival, the club has enjoyed more success with a recent rum shack and gin festival and November 10 will see it play host as it prepares to transform its bar area for one night only. The room will take on a comedy cafe-style layout to become Gateshead Comedy Lounge, where the audience will be treated to an evening of sharp humour, off-thecuff gags and fast and furious routines, compered by Kyle.
And the club hosts have also just released the identity of a special guest to open the night – Carl Hutchinson, who will be stopping off during his national tour which includes a date at Gala Theatre in Durham on October 28.
The Geordie talent, who regularly supports Chris Ramsey, is touring his one-man show until next summer and will be treating the audience to his oneoff brand of “killer gags, hilarious stories and trademark twisted logic”.
Also on the bill will be Anthony King who often includes self-penned songs into his stand-up acts which are described as a combination of his own true-life experiences mixed in with a whole bunch of lies; and Will Duggan who is credited with coming up with one of the best jokes at Edinburgh Festival Fringe last year, which he might share again with the Gateshead audience. And, as MC, Kyle will be doing his bit to help pull in the crowds with his comic skills.
Before becoming a comedian and writer, the South Tyneside talent was a wrestler which he has written about in his book Spandex Ballet: How I Wasted My Twenties Wrestling.
Having built up a fan base both on the local circuit, with the help of shows at The Stand comedy club in Newcastle and Jesterval comedy festival, he has also written sketches for TV and BBC radio and has won over audiences at Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The audience is in for a treat from the man billed as “not a total idiot” but “he has absolutely nothing to teach you. He’s just a man with no unique selling point who likes to be stupid. Whatever the opposite of satire is, that is what he’s going to do.”
Doors open at 7pm ahead of the 8.30pm start of the show which will wrap up around 11pm. Hot food as well as drink will be available to buy on the night too.
If the night is a hit, the plan is to follow up with a comedy club night every four to six weeks with each to feature a compere, headliner and two more acts.
Tickets are available from www. gatesheadbeerfestival.co.uk. They also can be bought from the club in Eastwood Gardens; the Best One shop in Kells Lane and from JJ’s Kitchen in Saltmeadows Road, Gateshead.