Comedy Club @ Babalou - any good???

[talawa]

Anyone been down to this? Any good? busy?

Is a good venue but the music nights they put on are not that interesting to me so was thinking of taking the missus to the comedy..

[editor]

I'm not a fan of the venue but the comedy is supposed to be pretty good. The beers are well pricey there though.

Of course you could see some top notch comedy - including the Perrier Award winning comic Josie Long - for absolutely nothing next Thursday at Offline. And there's some great bands too!

http://www.urban75.org/offline/index.html

[teuchter]

was a (very short) thread about this a wee while ago...

http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=212631

[goldengraham]

I can only hope Babalou is a better experience than the "comedy night" at Inn Clapham, by Clapham Common tube, which Mrs GG and I had the misfortune to witness last night. To start off it was wrongly advertised as being somewhere else in Time Out, then when we eventually worked out where it was and got there, we found more comedians than punters - and pretty pissed off they were too.

The host/link man repeatedly assured us (and the comics) that a load of punters, led by his mate, would be turning up at any minute, so we sat in an alcove, where we couldn't see the rest of the bar, and had a drink. When it eventually kicked off we were asked to move to a sofa in front of the stage and it was only at that point that we realised, to our horror, that we were the only people in the whole place!

It was too late for us to leg it by then, and we had to endure an excruciating "warm-up" during which the link man muttered on bitterly about his unreliable "mate" before insulting a the female comic on the bill who was understandably having second thoughts about performing. Then some fresh-out-of-university kid came on and, standing about one metre in front of us, told a load of terrible shag jokes, replete with comedy actions, while we sat there wishing the sofa would swallow us up. Luckily he quickly got off the stage and the link man started ringing his mate again, at which point we bolted madly for the door...

[gaijingirl]

:D :D :D

It's a comical story!

[Orang Utan]

My friend went and loved it - says the acoustics down there are so good they don't need to bother with the mic

[goldengraham]

More of a tragedy I'd say!

[jezg]

Been last 2 weeks and standard is good, they do 2 acts who do about an hour each. The first act was 4 guys(Idiots of ants) doing sketches and they're performing for next 3 weeks I think, bit odd becuase I wouldn't go back to see same sketches again, one of them is the compere too and used same gags both weeks but they worked. Other 3 acts were all decent, trying out a bit of new stuff ahead of Edinburgh, Brendon Burns and Hal Cruttenden were funny and clever and the place has been full both times, try and bag a sofa.

[slcr]

Great sofas, the compere is really nice: when I went about four months ago he was upset because one of the acts he'd booked had turned out to be a sexist prick. I guess that means he's been more careful since - there were some good comedians on that night after the first guy, and if he's been getting Perrier nominated people in .. think I heard that outside the tube last week .. that's a good sign. Again.. great sofas.

[dogmatique]

Can't fault them for persistent promotion at the tube. Anyone else been?

[editor]

Can't fault them for persistent promotion at the tube. Anyone else been?If only you could say the same about JAMM...

*sobs

[talawa]

went last night. Wasnt that impressed by idiots of ants tbh. Drinks prices are stupid so went to Effra after compere announced scheduled comedian couldnt make it. Good sized crowd though.

[editor]

went last night. Wasnt that impressed by idiots of ants tbh. Drinks prices are stupid so went to Effra after compere announced scheduled comedian couldnt make it. Good sized crowd though.Don't forget JAMM next Thursday - award winning comedienne, great bands, fabulous cabaret, normal pub prices and it's free yes FREE!, all night!

[teuchter]

I went to this last night.

Wasn't that impressed, really.

The compare guy was irritating, not very funny, went on too long, and made some fairly unamusing "jokes" about Brixton. The type you might hear some idiots in a pub in Clapham making.

Of the four acts, two were very mediocre, one was OK-ish at best, and one was quite good in parts but not that special.

£3.50 for a bottle of beer or £2 for a small glass of coke.

There were enough in the audience for it not to be embarrassing but it wasn't exactly packed.

Maybe it was just an off-night. If anyone can relate more positive experiences, I might be tempted to give them a second chance but otherwise I think I'll be giving it a miss in the future.

[slcr]

THREE POUNDS FIFTY for a bottle of beer??!!

[editor]

THREE POUNDS FIFTY for a bottle of beer??!!*unsubscribes

[slcr]

*unsubscribes

A reaction to my emphatic but substance-less comment, or an expression of contempt towards babalou?

[tarannau]

The granddaddy in the area is still the Brixton Comedy which has been consistenty excellent at attracting A-list talent over the years. Haven't been back since they transferred from the Hobgoblin to the Dogstar though - worry that they'll suffer a little in that new venue if I'm honest.

The Hootanny has tried its own replacement night on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month. The bills look quite impressive, but again I haven't been - reports on attendance have been a little mixed to say the least.

[teuchter]

The granddaddy in the area is still the Brixton Comedy which has been consistenty excellent at attracting A-list talent over the years. Haven't been back since they transferred from the Hobgoblin to the Dogstar though - worry that they'll suffer a little in that new venue if I'm honest.

I've never given that one a go, but would be interested to hear if anyone recommends it. I tend to be a bit wary of live comedy because it's just no fun unless it's really good. As my experience as Babalou confirmed this week.

Been to the banana cabaret in the Bedford in Balham a few times, and that's been worthwhile. Usually at least a coupole of the acts are pretty good.

[tarannau]

TBH I doubt it'll be anything other than good - Ivor Dembina's an excellent compere/organiser and the club's continually attracted great comics over the years - everyone from Harry Hill, Jeff Green, Dave Kitson, Reginald Hunter, Rich Hall, Mark Thomas and many others.

My main concern is that Dogstar seems a worse and smaller venue that the big old Hobgoblin function room, which always proved busy - a queue used to extend right out of the beer garden to the nearest road tuning nigh on 40m away. I think you may be able to book tickets now though...

[editor]

A reaction to my emphatic but substance-less comment, or an expression of contempt towards babalou?£3.50 a bottle clears me out of most places.

[christonabike]

Do they not do pints of beer?