Live Stand-Up Comedy at the Glee Club

Comedy nights with guest comedians at the Glee Club in Oxford.

Events

Kevin James Thornton

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Gary Meikle: 2.5

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Jack Barry: Don't Happy Be Worry

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Alex Kealy, Phil Nichol, Michael Akadiri, Morgan Rees

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Matt Richardson, Robin Morgan, Omar Badawy, Michael Rice

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Alasdair Beckett-King: The Interdimensional ABK

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Michael Legge, Steve Williams, Daniel Foxx, Andre Hubert

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Meryl O'Rourke, Thomas Green, Glenn Wool, Jacob Hawley

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Steve Gribbin, Jeremy Flynn, John Fothergill, Hatty Preston

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Andy Askins, John Lynn, Jessie Nixon, James Cook

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Gary Delaney: Gary in Punderland, Steve Day

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Josh Pugh, Tom Wrigglesworth, Sol Bernstein, Emmanuel Sonubi

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Peter Brush, Michael Rice, Mark Maier

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Dan Tiernan, Pete Otway, Ali Woods, Amy Mason

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Joe Sutherland, Dairy Earl, Jason Patterson, Eleanor Tiernan

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Garrett Millerick, Andrew Mensah, Nathan Caton, Abigoliah Schamaun

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Tiff Stevenson: Sexy Brain

Stand-up comedy from critically acclaimed stand-up, writer and actor
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Luke Kidgell: Cheers To That, Casey Filips

Sold Out
Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Jack Berry, Andy Robinson, Laura Smyth

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

George Lewis, Paul Tonkinson, Morgan Rees, Rachel Fairburn

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Carl Hutchinson: Watch Till The End

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Tom Ward, Raj Poojara, Mike Gunn, Paul McCaffrey

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Babatunde Aléshé: Babahood, Josh James

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Sophie Duker: Hag

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Kazeem Jamal, Tamsyn Kelly, Andrew O'Neil, Marcel Lucont

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Jayde Adams: Men, I Can Save You; Morgan Rees

Rescheduled from 25th September 2022
Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Abi Clarke, Funmbi Omotayo, Liam Pickford, Paul Thorne

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Nathan Caton, Simon Wozniak, Michael Akadiri, Tamsyn Kelly

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Kyrah Gray, Barry Dodds, Keith Farnan, Red Richardson

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Rory O'Hanlon, Joe Wells, Glenn Moore, Elliot Steel

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Alexandra Haddow, Josh Pugh, Radu Isac

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Dave Fulton, Andrew Bird, Kazeem Jamal, Jamie D'Souza

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Tom Lucy, Rob Deering, Dave Longley

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Jacob Hawley, Michael May, Rob Rouse

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Adam Van Bendler

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Ben Norris, Matt Rees, Jeremy Flynn, Steffan Evans

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Tom Houghton: It's Not Ideal

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Melanie Bracewell: Forget Me Not

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Andy Robinson, Paul Thorne, Leroy Brito, Steve Gribbin

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Paul McCaffrey, Andrew White, Finlay Christie, Colin Hoult (Anna Mann)

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Basketmouth: Cancel Culture

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Vittorio Angelone: Who Do You Think You Are? I Am!

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Simon Brodkin: Screwed Up

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Nabil Abdulrashid: The Purple Pill

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Angelos Epithemiou, Spring Day, Eleanor Tiernan, Adam Bloom

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Andrew Bird, Nathan Caton, Jacob Hawley, Jeremy Flynn

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Richard Blackwood

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Michael Legge, Robyn Perkins, Peter Brush, John Fothergill

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Mike Gunn, Adam Beardsmore, Liam Pickford, Abigoliah Schamaun

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Chloe Petts: If You Can't Say Anything Nice

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Dave Longley, Hatty Preston, Paul Tonkinson, Laura Smyth

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Sam Campbell: Wobservations

Sold Out
Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Shazia Mirza, Slim, Rob Deering, Andrew O'Neill

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Gary Meikle: Facts

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Pierre Novellie

Before the plague/WW3 I was a chortling, apple-cheeked blacksmith and now I am a scowling wretch.
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

John Kearns: The Varnishing Days (14+)

The Varnishing Days is the heart-stopping new show from stand up comedian to the stars John Kearns.
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Matt Price, Josh Jones, Michael Shafar

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Tom Stade: Natural Born Killer (16+)

The Canadian superstar’s killer new hour! He’s been taking audiences by storm for the past 2 decades
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Gordon Southern, Carey Marx, Tom Little

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Heidi Regan, Paul F Taylor

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Jayde Adams: Men, I Can Save You (16+)

The key word in the title Men, I Can Save You, is not the one you might think. It’s ‘I’.
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Michael Fabbri, Jack Gleadow, Tom Deacon

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Dan Nightingale's Special

The new show by stand-up comedian Dan Nightingale at The Glee Club Oxford
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Matt Richardson, Marlon Davis, Alex Kealy

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Andy Robinson, Robert White, Pope Lonergan

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Dave Fulton, Andrew Mensah, Kate Barron, Ricky Balshaw

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Andy Robinson, Andrew O'Neill, Jacob Hawley, Peter Rethinasamye Buckley

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Saturday Night Comedy (18+)

Treat yourself to an evening of award-winning comedy! Four superb stand-up comedians every Saturday!
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Steve Hall & Steve Williams

Steve Hall and Steve Williams are in town with a double dose of fantastic stand-up.
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Pierre Novellie, Sol Bernstein, Elliot Steel, Dane Buckley

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Myra DuBois: Be Well (18+)

Fresh from a barnstorming run at the Edinburgh FringeFresh from a barnstorming run at the Edinburgh
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Michelle De Swarte: Moved

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Fin Taylor, Matt Price, Andrew Bird

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Dave Fulton, Anthony J Brown, Ian Smith

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Ian Stone, Ben Van Der Velde, Steve Gribbin, Rachel Fairburn

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Mike Cox, Andy Robinson, Raj Poojara, Rob Deering

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Dana Alexander, Morgan Rees

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Darren Harriott

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Steve Harris, Steve Williams, Kuan-wen Huang, Andy Robinson

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Andrea Hubert

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Mike Gunn, Carey Marx, Jason Patterson

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Mark Maier, Dominic Frisby

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Mike Gunn, Gordon Southern, Leroy Brito, Celya AB

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Robin Morgan, Tom Houghton

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Matt Bragg, Jimmy McGhie, Anuvab Pal

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Jarlath Regan

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Geoff Norcott: I Blame The Parents

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Helen Bauer, Michael Akadiri, Joe Wells, Glenn Wool

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Adam Rowe: Imperious

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Nathan Caton: Let's Talk About Vex, Hyde Panaser

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Tom Lucy, Slim, John Fothergill, Abigoliah Schamaun

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Sukh Ojla: Life Sucks

Following her debut solo run at the Edinburgh Fringe 2019, Sukh Ojla brings her brilliant solo comedy hour to The Glee.
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Josh Berry & Rafe Hubris

Stand up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Hayley Elis, Mo Omar, Andy Askins, Jacob Hawley

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Paul Thorne & more tbc

Cancelled
Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Joe Lycett: Work In Progress

Sold Out
New material from the artist formerly known as Hugo Boss
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Amy Matthews, Garrett Millerick, Ninia Benjamin, Roger Monkhouse

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Julian Deane, Yuriko Kotani, Elliot Steel, Charlie Baker

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Tez Ilyas, Kae Kurd, Kane Brown, Tommy Sandhu

Stand-up comedy from Desi Central Comedy Show
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Aurie Styla: Green

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Bobby Mair: Cockroach

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Seann Walsh: Back From The Bed

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Jamali Maddix: King Crud, Elliot Steel

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Charlie Baker, Darius Davies, Paul Tonkinson

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Larry Dean: Fudnut

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Gavin Webster, George Lewis, Michael Rice, Paul McCaffrey

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Sol Bernstein, Tom Toal, Matt Richardson

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Will Duggan & more tbc

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Keith Farnan, Matt Richardson, Radu Isac, Lily Phillips

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Garrett Millerick, Babatunde Aléshé, Kevin McCarthy, Annie Boyle

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Ria Lina, Peter Bush, Rory O'Hanlon, Mike Gunn

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Judi Love: Work In Progress, Jake Lambert

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Jerry Sadowitz: Not For Anyone

Sold Out
Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Cerys Nelmes, Jack Gleadow, Michelle Shaughnessy, Lou Conran

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

MC Hammersmith: 1 Man 8 Mile

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Luisa Omielan, Jacob Hawley, Josh Jones

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Chloe Petts: Transcience

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

John Kearns: The Varnishing Days

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Dana Alexander, Simon Wozniak, Eleanor Tiernan

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Cary Marx & more tbc

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Dave Fulton, Fin Taylor, Erich McElroy, Peter Rethinasamy

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Rudi Lickwood, Hasan Al-Habib, Abigoliah Schamaun, Alexandra Haddow

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Tom Ward: Anthem

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Josh Pugh: Sausage, Egg, Josh Pugh, Chips & Beans

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Harriet Kemsley: Honeysuckle Island

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Sarah Callaghan, Toussaint Douglass, Carey Marx, John Fothergill

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Jamie Hutchinson, Steve Hughes, Steve Gribbin, Jimmy McGhie

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Mike Newall, Kate Lucas

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Phil Nichol, Laura Lexx, Raj Poojara, John Lynn

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Dan Badea, Ales Mocanu

Romanian stand-up comedians
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Barry Dodds, Michael Odewale, Maureen Younger

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Jayde Adams: Men, I Can Save You

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Sean Percival, Jonny Awsum, Kate Lucas

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Elanor Tiernan, George Zach, Thomas Green, Pete Otway

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Mark Simmons: Quip Off The Mark

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Troy Hawke: Sigmund Troy'd

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Helen Bauer: Madam Good Tit, Chelsea Birkby

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Rob Auton: The Crowd Show

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Elf Lyons: Raven

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Ria Lina, Alistair Barrie, Alexandra Haddow

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Jordan Brookes: This Is Just What Happens

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Andy Parsons: Work In Progress

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Andy Askins, Jo Enright, Elliot Steel, Leroy Brito

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Sat 30th March, Doors open 6.30pm, last entry 7.15pm
£19, £12 (student)

Phil Ellis's Excellent Comedy Show (14+)

Edinburgh Award-nominated Phil Ellis's Excellent Comedy Show comes to The Glee Club Oxford!
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Tue 2nd April, Doors 6:45pm - 7:15pm.
£15

Tom Toal, Gavin Webster, Michael Fabbri, Tamsyn Kelly

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Sat 6th April, Doors open 6.30pm, last entry 7.15pm
£19, £12 (student)

Tom Lawrinson: Hubba Hubba

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Thu 11th April, Doors open 6.45pm, last entry 7.15pm
£15

Carl Hutchinson: Today Years Old (14+)

What has quickly became an annual tradition. Carl is back for a third consecutive back-to-back tour.
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Fri 12th April, Doors 6:45pm - 7:15pm.
£17.50 + booking fees

Laura Lexx, Tamer Kattan, Matt Price, Robert White

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Sat 13th April, Doors open 6.30pm, last entry 7.15pm
£19, £12 (student)

Fin Taylor: Ask Your Mother

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Next: Fri 19th April

Dana Alexander, Marlon Davis, Alexandra Haddow, Aaron Wood

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Sat 20th April, Doors open 6.30pm, last entry 7.15pm
£19, £12 (student)

Matt Forde: Inside No.10

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Sun 21st April, Doors open 6.45pm, last entry 7.15pm
£17.50

MC Hammersmith: Straight Outta Brompton

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Thu 25th April, Doors open 6.30pm, last entry 7.15pm
£15

Abigoliah Schamaun, Keith Farnan, Jason Patterson, Raj Poojara

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Sat 27th April, Doors open 6.30pm, last entry 7.15pm
£19, £12 (student)

Dave Fulton, Kate Lucas, Morgan Rees, Charlie Baker

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Sat 4th May, Doors open 6.30pm, last entry 7.15pm
£19, £12 (student)

Mark Maier, Paul F Taylor, Michael Akadiri

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Sat 11th May, Doors open 6.30pm, last entry 7.15pm
£19, £12 (student)

Matt Richardson, Meryl O'Rourke, Paul Tonkinson, André de Freitas

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Sat 18th May, Doors open 6.30pm, last entry 7.15pm
£19, £12 (student)

Carey Marx, John Lynn, Mike Cox, Jamie D'Souza

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Sat 25th May, Doors open 6.30pm, last entry 7.15pm
£19, £12 (student)

Hayley Ellis, Pete Selwood, Darren Harriott, Paul Thorne

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Sat 1st June, Doors open 6.30pm, last entry 7.15pm
£19, £12 (student)

Steve Williams, Rob Rouse, Sharon Wanjohi, Javier Jarquin

Stand-up comedy
The Glee Club
The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Sat 8th June, Doors open 6.30pm, last entry 7.15pm
£19, £12 (student)

February 10, 2023
Tom Ward: Able to make touchy subjects consistently hilarious

Tom Ward is both compere and headline act of tonight’s show (“cuts,” he explains), which makes him effectively the warm up act for his own warm up act. So underwhelming is our response when he first hits the stage, however, that we are made to do it again, to give a welcome more befitting to a talented comic touring the country (“he’s like an angry teacher!”, the man behind me comments). It is worth it, though, as the crowd’s energy is much better the second time around (you know what English people are like; we need explicit permission just to cough, let alone whoop and shriek).

Ward opens up by “getting to know us” via a little questionnaire he proceeds to visit upon random members of the audience. With his incredible Ian Brownesque mod mop a subject of the first couple of questions (“Was Hayley Cropper, Anne Robinson or Angela Merkel the main inspiration?”), we are quickly moved into more risque territory. (“Who's come here with someone they love? Someone they used to love? Who's forgiven their mum?”) His crowd work - surely the most difficult and nervewracking part of a stand up’s job - is outstanding, and the chortles are well and truly in full effect by time the the official warm up, Rob Copland, joins us.

Copland has perhaps the most esoteric range of subjects I have ever seen from a comedian. Opening with his favourite section of the alphabet (“LMNOP, am I right? The rest of it is just a joyless chore.”), he is soon onto tapestries and hide and seek before finishing with the more workaday theme of, erm, working every day (“I don’t mind having a job,” he explains, “it’s having to do the job every day that I resent.”) But in Copland’s hands, even that soon becomes an extended soliloquy on the schizophrenic relationship between goalkeeper and ball. Looking like Eugene Hutz in a parallel universe in which he’d only ever experienced first world problems and then become a science teacher, he has some wondrous physical routines, augmented with impressive verbal dexterity and all washed down with some killer one liners and generous lashings of weirdness. Definitely a comic intent on ploughing his own furrow.

Tom Ward chooses more relatable subject matter, such as house prices (“my friend is a fairly typical homeowner - he bought his house in 1987 for £1.29, retiled the bathroom, and now it’s worth £1.2.million”), coffee shops (“all staffed by the same boy - 24 years old, blonde, called Theo, and looks like July in Hitler’s personal calendar”), and our lack of sympathy towards the psychological pain of rich people (you had to be there!). Ward has an impressive knack of being able to make potentially depressing subjects - such as climate catastrophe and, erm, depression - consistently hilarious, and manages to touch on some polarising issues without coming across as either preachy, or trivialising. In these days of culture wars, the ability to do that in a way that will appeal to all is impressive. But, far more importantly, it is side-splittingly funny. Go and see him if you get the chance.


Keith Farnan, Jim Smallman, Jonnie Price, Carly Smallman

For me, the most enjoyable element of a live stand-up comedy show, besides the humour, is that the interactions between the host, comedians, and the audience can most likely never be recreated again; you are part of something unique for a few hours. And concerning the most recent Stand-Up Saturday at The Bullingdon, I have to add interactions with the physical venue in the mix as well.

The Saturday night audience saw Jonnie Price, Jim Smallman, and Keith Farnan take the stage, hosted by Carly Smallman (is she distantly related to Jim?). It was nice to get a variety of stage personas and jokes ranging from self-deprecation, to poking fun at audience members, to criticising the political state of the world. Host Carly Smallman effortlessly warmed up the audience; with a hen party and stag party occupying the first two rows, the jokes wrote themselves. While her use of profanities directed towards the mothers of the bride and groom were uncomfortable to witness, she incorporated memorable segments on the plights of online dating and was clearly comfortable interacting with the audience and making fun of herself. I would like to see her full routine in the future.

Jonnie Price's jokes focused on bodies and bathrooms. He began by poking fun at his own physique and Topman sizing with the oxymoronic 'XXXL slim fit' shirt. Most of his jokes after that incorporated personal narratives featuring overflowing bubble baths, food poisoning, and lack of toilet rolls. I would have liked for Price to venture out of the tub and toilet and include more humour from other realms, but if that is his trademark then he stuck to it well.

Jim Smallman called on past stories of his schoolteacher days and then pre-teen daughter. He engaged the teachers of the audience in a discussion of whether students should know the teacher's first name, and told us how he tricked his classes into thinking his name was many other J-names except for Jim or James. Some of Smallman's punchlines forced you to think one step ahead to understand the humour, which had a satisfying comedic effect once you saw the audience's staggered laughter as it clicked. Much of the set focused on his daughter, but more so with cute stories rather than jokes. However, you can tell he is a proud dad and he successfully highlights the comedic bits of these family stories.

Keith Farnan was the final act and seemed to be the most comfortable on stage. In contrast to the previous comedians, he made fun of himself to a lesser degree and dedicated his time to bigger topics: Brexit, Trump, Russia, and homophobia. This is the type of humour I had expected to encounter at the event, but the punchlines were original; in mixing world topics with unexpected jokes, Farnan had, in my opinion, the funniest set. The highlight of the night was when a wire above the stage became unraveled just as Farnan was addressing how some day God would smite him during a set; the timing could not have been any better. This wire immediately drew the audience together in a debate of whether Farnan should touch it or not, and allowed him to exhibit spontaneous humour, which was just as good as his rehearsed material.

Overall, the evening was not consistently laugh-out-loud hilarious compared to shows with more famous names in American and British comedy that I have grown accustomed to, but for a small venue in Oxford it was an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday night. I am glad that there was a mix of delivery styles and a range of topics employed as comedic focal points; it would have been easy for everyone to make the same quips about hen parties and Brexit but this was not the case.


April 26, 2015

Adam Bloom, Rob Rouse, Jim Smallman, Alex Boardman - Sat 25th April 2015

Glee Club is a bit like lucky dip. The setting is great, the service excellent, the ambiance enjoyable and the wrapper colourful. Whether you like what’s unwrapped on the night is personal – some do, some don’t.

The uproarious atmosphere helps. Looking around the intimate space with the revolving disco ball and the upbeat sound track, the tables are full. There’s a loving couple, dangerously near the mike, a Thunderbirds stag party with the bearded groom dressed as Lady Penelope, a lady wrestler and friend, and a man behind me clutching a giant teddy bear, who waves the bear’s arm, every time he catches my eye.

Enthusiastically unveiling the comic talent, creating the roar, was heavily tattooed compere, Jim Smallman. His comic wit showed teeth, yet no marks. It was a bit like Woody Harrelson in True Detective, putting on the gloves before putting in the boot.

In addition to orchestrating the applause from polite to fever pitched, Smallman was skilful in eliciting personal information from the most reluctant punter.

‘So she’s a higher rank than you. Is that what you’re saying?’ Smallman concluded in a bashful exchange with an RAF flight-crew attendant and his glamorous – but discreet – partner.

A trio of comics were then unleashed.

Alex Boardman’s bespectacled Mancunian combined Northern directness with surreal flights of fancy. His shaggy giraffe story was a classic, and his tales of family life and the shortcomings of age won quick wins from the audience, and a deluge of laughter.

Rob Rouse’s material was – for me – a bit recherché. I suppose having a rectal examination for suspected prostate cancer can only run so far. Yet there was no doubt about it: the audience enjoyed the full body mime.

Adam Bloom was least well served, coming last in the line up. Still, the audience laughed some more. Bloom put his entire comic persona into his lines – the self-confessed boggly eyed geek still had an eye for the ladies. ‘How come I’ve got the microphone and you’re still winning?’ he told a feisty member of the audience.

Lascivious, daring, wild and quick-fire – at the Glee Club you take your pick. Just don’t sit too close to the mike. Or they’ll take the mick.


April 19, 2015

Charlie Baker, Dane Baptiste, Rory O'Hanlon, Luke Honnoraty - Sat 18th April 2015

Glee Club guarantees good times. Saturday's show was a spectacular success just as every one that I've been to in the past has been. Why? Because they know what they are doing.

And what do they do? Well, they rotate a pool of the finest UK comedy acts and produce shows extremely professionally. The acts are diverse, they are people who you will see on Live at the Apollo or your favourite panel show in the future, if indeed they haven't broken into your television set already. Glee Club engineer the occasion for optimum enjoyment, with a well lit stage and decent PA system, music that gradually builds up the tempo until the acts come on, a great range of drinks - four pint pitchers, cocktails, good service, and even surprisingly tasty and reasonably priced food. The tables and chairs are set in an arc, their trapezium shape designed to give you plenty of space, you feel part of your smaller group but also part of a close-together ready-to-giggle audience. Years of practice has made perfect.

Stand-up comedy in the UK is still hovering somewhere around its zenith it seems and the best clubs like Glee call upon gems that have been honing their skills for many years.

Rory O'Hanlon is our host, sacrificing a tonne of no doubt brilliant material to do the all important and often underestimated job of compering the occasion. He does it supremely well, engaging with the front row and breaking down that formal fourth-wall barrier that needs to be eliminated if we're to enjoy the delights that follow. He makes everyone feel welcome and at-ease. His improvising skills are there, effortlessly creating friendly jokes on the spot, adding the odd tried and tested line, tackling some over-exuberant drunken manliness to his left and setting the lovely tone of the evening.

Laughter engines cranked, we are swiftly introduced to our first act, Luke Honnoraty, an extremely endearing and affable young man with boy-next-door Devonshire charm who eases in with some self-deprecating gags about his appearance and proceeds to bring hilarity out of the everyday. He has natural chatty delivery and a particularly subtle call-back about the changing attitude towards Walls Vienetta desserts.

Glee Club know what they are doing and keep sets down to an optimum length of 20 minutes in an act-break-act-break-act format that facilitates drinking, socialising and concentrated comedy fun.

After the first break, Dane Baptiste takes the stage. Slightly more dangerous a presence but ultimately friendly, he creates mock-awkwardness by asking the couple who the compere found had been together for three months, "so you bought her a valentine's present yes?". Cue short awkward silence and audience laugh. He's in the zone, working the room. Richard has some very well-crafted intelligent gags and his use of language would be celebrated in literature circles if it was ever exposed to them I'm sure. He has tremendous poise and presence on stage and weaves a lot of satire into his set in a very subtle way. His most memorable section is about girls looking for a gay best friend and his quest therefore to have a lesbian best friend. He builds up the laughter volume to a peak. Or so we think.

After the second break our headline act explodes on to the stage with such giddiness that the room is almost instantly out of control. Charlie Baker is a comedy force-to-be-reckoned-with whose future will be bigger and shinier than his beaming chubby face. He is a live wire performer rammed with talent who tickles you in places that you haven't been tickled since you were really small and very tickly. Aside from being devastatingly funny he is also a great singer and uses his singing talents to deliver snippets of hilarious, swear-y versions of jazz classics. He has everything: unique material, improv skills and great timing.

It's fantastic to witness a comedian who is completely in control and in the zone bring a show to a brilliant climax. That is only possible when people who know what they are doing create the conditions for it to happen.

The staff even know how to subtley ask the odd drunken people to stop talking late on in the show without any fuss.

Go to the Glee Club, you'll see a huge diversity of professional comics from all sorts of backgrounds enjoying making you laugh. Trust me, you are in safe hands.

Glee also do one-offs of bigger name comedian's tours, watch out for Sean Walsh on April 24th.


February 9, 2015

Greg Burns, Jim Park, Liam Williams, Gary Delaney - Glee Club.

Saturday night at the Glee Club can be a patchy and chaotic experience and this one was no exception. As one comedian noted, there was a baton of idiocy being passed between two groups – one stag night and the other some “lone wolf”, who were insisting their own interruptions (heckling should involve some wit) be the focus of the evening for an audience of nearly 300. The compère, Greg Burns, handled it very well and while I dislike comedy club meanness and bullying, this was entirely deserved and the offenders were turned upon with admirable fearlessness, finally being dispatched by the bouncers.

Opening with pretty standard audience participation, this puppyish geezer and seasoned DJ was assured and amiable, doing more of a routine following the first act. Jim Park’s act was not an auspicious start. No amount of jokes at his own expense redeemed his act, and it was both painful and irritating to endure. It’s a courageous thing to perform like this, but a comedian this lame should not be taking up people’s time. Sample convoluted joke – something about falling into a big pot of pasta and thus having a big “carbonara footprint”.

Liam Williams was superb. Managing to combine cockiness with coruscating self-deprecation, his act was droll and clever. Musing on relationships, parents and the planet, one of his funniest moments in an act of exhilarated despair was hoping that it be assured a grim fate, since the only thing worse than social injustice and global catastrophe is being proven wrong. Like Stewart Lee, he manages to skewer his own self-indulgence; only a genuinely intelligent smart-ass could observe that “people say ‘George Orwell must be spinning in his grave.’ No. He’d be thinking, ‘Yes! I got it right!”.

Looking like one of the Hairy Bikers and delivering a volley of one-liners in the style of a gleefully rude Tim Vine, I’d recommend anyone see Gary Delaney perform. His jokes are so brief and densely concentrated that it simply isn’t possible to get them all in one sitting. He is as earthy and likeable as his wife Sarah Millican but being less cake-centric (which isn’t difficult). I thought his material was better and broader, and his chuckles at his own jokes were infectious in the good way. A sample of these, which work just as well in “print” - http://somegags.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/gary-delaney-jokes.html, but I love this one – “Correlation does not imply causality, but the more I say things like that the fewer people want to talk to me.”

By and large, a fun, social night that remains one of the best that Oxford offers and the brevity of each of the acts ensures that, like its buses used to be, there will always be another along soon if one fails.


December 9, 2013
Gavin Webster, Rory O’Hanlon, JoJo Smith, Luke Toulson, The Glee Club, Sat November 30th, 7.15pm

Love it or hate it, one has to admit that stand-up comedy is not a funny business. Take your average co-worker that you find amusing at work. Throw him up on stage and ask him to perform comedy and you’ve just expected a feral cat to perform tight-rope tricks in a circus. It’s not going to happen instantly nor easily. One could argue that a good comic emerges 50% from a natural inclination and 50% through training. At the end of the day, whether or not we find them funny depends on whether they can succeed at getting us to relate, let our guards down, and for one night embrace the absurdity of everyday life.  On Saturday, November 30, 2013 at the Glee Club in Oxford, the answer was yes. 

JoJo Smith opened up for the acts with what appeared to be zero pre-rehearsed material. She literally played off the audience at hand, making up instantaneous judgment calls and improvised jokes on the spot. And she did not disappoint. Vacillating between the scolding parole officer type and a loving, outspoken auntie that likes her drink, she went up and down the audience mixing her unique blend of praise and insults. Not too much to either side to seriously offend - just enough to grab your attention and rile you up before the main acts of the night. She inspired the perfect mix of fear and adoration amongst the crowd. 

Rory O’ Hanlon took over from there, with funny jokes on being an Irishman with a ginger afro, the differences amongst cultures, one night stands and his adventures in touring the global comedy circuit. He engaged the audience with his takes and seemed to hit a high note with the audience with a repertoire ranging from singleton dilemmas to the delusional thinking that married men might have. His pacing was good and the laughter kept rolling throughout his sketch. 

Intermissions were placed between performers and here again Glee did not disappoint. They offer a variety of wine from £2.25 upwards and pints from £3.20. They had numerous menu options with creative veggie and non-veggie bites for under £5. Unlike other venues that hold you hostage once you are inside and charge you overpriced rates (think airport food vendors), Glee seems to be rewarding you for being their guest.  Wait-staff were incredibly friendly, efficient and attentive and were intent on being a positive part of your comedy experience from start to finish. You can eat and drink before and during the show, which adds a nice component to the experience. 

Luke Toulson carried on the night revealing the inner workings of a parent’s mind - the things that parents might think, but never say to their kids. He went across topics like booze and sex, and had his own success with improvising brilliantly by turning the comments of a heckler around back onto him.

Gavin Webster was the final act of the night, with a different style than the others, doing more one-off, one-liner type jokes mixed with irony and impressions. He, too took the comments of an audience member and incorporated it into his act, showing a real talent for rolling with the punches that come with doing a live performance.

I’m reminded of the words of a former art teacher when I stop to give a critical review of the night’s acts. It’s not so much whether or not you think that their “art” is good or bad, but that you value the source from which it came, and support it. Judging by the laughter that rumbled across the audience that night, I would say they would unanimously agree.

August 26, 2013
Bryan Lacey, Paul Thorne, Paul Sinha, Andy Robinson (MC), Sat 24th August
Everything about the Glee Club beckons cheerfulness: the welcoming staff, the bright colours, the cheap drinks, the tasty food. Even the strobe lighting promises party…

And so we did. Good humour abounded – even before host Andy Robinson warmed up the crowd. He was from Birmingham, but he was quick to retalitate. His technique was particularity and fear. A threesome of girls was plentyoffish.com; a bodybuilder eating for two a ‘fat bastard’; a buttoned up man called James berated until he took his coat off. And his girlfriend’s. Still, Robinson liked one thing about the audience: they’d ‘come out and enjoyed people face-to-face’.

First up was Bryan Lacey. He disliked fat people – the bodybuilder, once more, took some flak. Lacey’s concern was obese children - paedophiles could catch them more easily. His joke about Cleopatra and the diameter of poles in a Huddersfield strip club continued the theme of weightiness to great comic effect. The sound effects of Lawrence, Tanya, and the seagull were masterly.

But when Paul Sinha took the stage, the humour entered another dimension. An Indian, Bengali, gay ex-doctor, his jokes were savage, quickfire hits, each building on the previous sharp observation, delivered with conviction and a feeling of controlled anger.

Sinha favoured a low key, folksy start. It began with his father’s arrival from Bengal in 1968, to a better future. ‘Why sit at the back of the bus when here, you could drive it?’. Football was alien - ‘We thought Man City was a sex resort’. But cricket? Who to support - India or England? ‘Whoever was playing Australia.’

A bold declaration of Sinha's sexual orientation had women whooping. Sinha stared out into the crowd, he understood their cheers. ‘Hooray, this repulsive man will not want to f*** me’, he said. Sharing his sexuality with his parents delivered him a new status within the family: ‘just below a leper and just above a gay leper.’

What was it about the last comic of the night, Paul Thorne? We were all thinking it. ‘Some people believe I look like Gary Glitter.’ So that was it. He did! Part Mancunian, part Scouse, he could click like a dolphin – the language of a true Scouser. His impression of a bewildered, sun-deprived Scot buying a Four Seasons pizza: ‘There must be a mistake – four seasons?’ was very funny.

The Glee Club remains one of Oxford’s most fun venues – well worth discovering, no matter what the line-up. So don’t stay in. Robinson’s waiting. Take a punt. He will.

 


January 22, 2013

Andy Robinson (MC), John Lynn, Noel James, Marlon Davis
Saturday 19th January 2013

I've never been to a Glee club before. Normally when I go to see stand up, it's someone I'm already a fan of (or at least someone who's been strongly recommended) and I sit on the third row (close enough to see, too far away to get picked on) with the other comedy nerds, knowing exactly what to expect. What's different about clubs like this is I don't think anyone was there to see those particular comedians. Acts were only on for 20 minutes, breaks lasted almost as long as the sets, and almost everyone was there on a birthday or hen night. But they were all determined to have a really nice time, so there was no audience snarkiness, and also, you get a wee-and-drink break every half hour, which is pretty awesome.

Andy Robinson hosted the evening with a likeable persona and good patter. Because of the format of the night, most of his material took the form of an extended birthday shout out, but it was very sweetly done. When he ventured into his own material it was clever and unexpected - I'd love to see him do a proper set.

John Lynn delivered a chilled out, charming set, primarily concerned with drinking and poo. I love jokes about drinking and poo, and I love cheeky Irish guys. John was great.

Noel James was, for me, the weak point of the evening. His material wasn't bad, and initially I enjoyed the quick fire of clever/stupid jokes - nothing surprising, but competent. Soon, though, the routine got way too old fashioned for me. Jokes about beating women and "spazzes" don't sit easily with me. A Robert De Niro impression is almost worse. I did love his closing joke, though - "I've been a star tonight... by which I mean, by the time you see me, I've already died." Quite.

Marlon Davis was easily my favourite part of the evening. He delivered nicely paced observational comedy with well managed punchlines. A lot of gentle observational comedy can feel a bit dated ("You know when you go into the post office and-" No. No, we don't.) but Marlon's run down of the perils of buying a t shirt online was fresh and well timed. There was some very sweet stuff about his family that I really liked. I'd take my Mum to see Marlon, and not in a bad way.

Despite the birthday party vibe, this was a good night out. It's nice to have a sampler of acts who you wouldn't normally see, and out of four, I'd go to see three again, which isn't bad odds. 


November 19, 2012
Andy Robinson (MC), Steve Shanyaski, Ron G, Paul McCaffrey
Saturday 17 November

A triple bill at Oxford’s Glee Club might not push the comedy envelope, but tonight it offered dependable fun.

The first act Steve Shanyaski managed to quickly win over the audience with a routine about drunken girlfriends and regret. He was affable, Northern and unaffected. After a slow start, he won round the crowd and carried us all along with him. He was daft and physical, endearing and sharp.

Ron G, on the other hand, gave us a quickfire delivery which did not quite take the audience along for the ride. He invited us along into his world, but didn’t really tell us enough about it for his material to hit home. Based around his family and growing up in the American South, his act might work with a better rapport. Maybe we missed the point, but the Atlantic should not be such a wide gulf.

Paul McCaffery, by contrast, very quickly had the crowd eating from the palm of his hand with a routine about speeding fines and petty annoyances. That is not to say it wasn’t funny - it was - and along with our compere Andy Robinson, Paul McCaffery was by far the best of the three comedians tonight at pitching to the audience. He was genial, likeable and down to earth.

But the most comfortable and able comedian of the night was the compere, Andy Robinson. It’s a rare night when the crowd look forward to the compere taking over but in this case we got a genial but snarky compere, who played off the audience without relying on us for his jokes.

Maybe it’s too much to expect from the Glee Club on a Saturday night, but I might have expected a bit more pushing of the boundaries, some material that is harder than standard audience banter. That wasn’t on offer tonight, but if you wanted time-tested and solid stand up, then look no further than tonight’s acts.


August 5, 2012

3rd August 2012

Glee Club is one of Oxford’s pleasures. Reasonable ticket price, good food, an extensive cocktail menu, and waitress service to small, intimate tables close to the stage make for an enjoyable evening – even before burgeoning international names in comedy step up to entertain.

Saturday night’s hugely enjoyable show featured performers from Australia, Canada – and Bexleyheath.

Aussie Jacques Barrett’s reputation as ‘the guy who flies and never dies’ was once again confirmed in a confident, witty set. Barrett’s stage persona is daringly nondescript. Only someone confident in the strength and originality of their material could appear so unremarkable -  indistinguishable from his audience. It was as though he’d just stepped from behind the bar. His observations, mimicry and timing hit the spot virtually every line.

Barrett lampooned the timidity of Canadians’ humour:  it’s not very funny, but at least no-one got hurt…; the phwoah of Swedes: ‘God pressed Copy Paste'; the pigeon-necked Tourette spasm which struck Barrett Snr when a pooftah salmon came to mind, and the baffling fecundity of Weston-Super-Mare: ‘a pram pushed by a bigger pram’.

Bexleyheath-born Joey Page was less at ease, both with his material and the audience. His stage persona was carefully contrived : drainpipe jeans and a tight fitting jacket, over a leopard-skin blouse and diamante brooch. Oh, and a hat aka Pete Doherty.  If  only his material had been half as interesting and well executed as Barrett’s.

Old timer, Montreal-born Roy Vaudry sauntered on stage clutching his pint. He was totally in command, and looked and sounded as cynical and world-weary as his material: ’72 virgins? That’s not deflowering – that’s deforestation’. His timing was excellent, and ad-libs with the audience assured. He also best adapted to the night:
‘Can you make that light any brighter. I think I can see my dead parents beckoning me forward.’

Compère Ninia Benjamin bounded between sets with energy and confidence. Offstage, she danced brilliantly, and her several acting successes at both Stratford and the Royal Court attest to her dramatic presence.

‘Sometimes I wish I was the environment – at least it’s being f*cked’ Benjamin quipped, in a rare hit. For the most part, Benjamin’s material needed work.  A talented performer – even one deliberately larger than life, like Benjamin - still needs something to say.


July 22, 2012

 

Taylor Glenn (MC), Liam Mullone, Steve Gribbin, Gary Delaney
Glee Club in Oxford, Sat 21st July 2012

The Glee Club is a friendly venue with tables for guests and a wide selection of food available. The evening started well: we were welcomed by the door staff and shown to our table, which was situated close enough to the stage to be able to soak up the atmosphere but so close that we had to join in (unlike the front row). The venue has a reasonably priced bar, and although we didn’t eat, the food looked very good as it was taken to other tables.

The night opened with Taylor Glenn, the MC and American comedienne hosting the evening. She was loud, sarcastic and very capable of deflecting the heckles from one of the large stag parties in that evening. I thought she was  consistently amusing throughout the night, albeit in a slightly more confrontational way than some of the other comedians.  It would be fun to see her perform at a gig in a longer slot as I appreciated her style of humour: slightly acerbic but realistic.

The first act was Liam Mullone. His comedy is based mainly on observational humour drawn from experiences with his family and with his wife during her pregnancy, but also rangers to wider commentary, for example on last year’s riots. His comedy was quite thoughtful and although he did seem slightly nervous at times, was a success.

After the interval, we had Steve Gribbin who came with a guitar, prompting speculation from me and my partner as to the merits of musical comedy. He was extremely satirical, had adapted a wide range of songs to different scenarios, and was completely hilarious.  His material relied mostly on current events and news rather than more personal anecdotes and was extremely well-received.

The last act of the night was Gary Delaney: a comedian specialising in the traditional style of two liner jokes. Although some of these could have been described as predictable, there were still enough funny lines to keep me entertained throughout his section of the show. Again, he was also successfully received by his audience.

Overall, an entertaining evening which I would highly recommend to anyone. I would certainly consider attending again.


May 27, 2012

Mike Wilmot, Paul Thorne, Kerry Godliman, Imran Yusuf
Glee Club in Oxford, Sat 26th May 2012

Three great comedians graced Oxford’s Glee Club for a night of laughs and hilarity. A vibrant Imran Yusuf, dressed in a bright red suit, introduced the show and warmed the crowd in readiness for the arrival of the first comedian, Paul Thorne.  

Thorne had the audience in stitches straight away bantering with the crowd, choosing members from the front row as his subjects to mock and ridicule.  The sketch seemed unscripted, which was very impressive as his set flowed smoothly with audience interaction.  Funilly enough there were two men in the front row similar looking to Thorne himself, large and bald, which made cracking material as he likened them, as well as himself, to Gollum and Shrek.

After a short break Kerry Godliman took to the stage.  My personal favourite of the evening, Godliman took the personal approach and joked about everyday occurrences in female life, such as babies, hen parties and pregnancy.  The crowd were in hysterics as we heard tales of life from a female perspective.

Last up was Mike Wilmot.  After two superb acts I was expecting the finale to really wow me, however this was not to be.  I found Wilmot to be very crude, which is great if you like that kind of thing, but the jokes seemed repetitive and centred around oral sex.  What’s more alcohol seemed to play a part in the set, as the comic seemed slightly drunk.  Wilmot did pull a few crackers out of the bag sending the crowd wild with laughter, and redeeming himself.

On the whole the night was fantastic and I’ve never laughed so hard! If you want a show that’s a laugh a minute, this is definitely for you.  Each comic had their own style, wit and humour, so if one type of comedy wasn’t you’re bag, the others certainly would be. Highly recommended.

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