#welsh comedy

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Hello Mr Tumblr. My pal Phil Ellis and I have made a podcast called Early Worms. Pop it in your ears/ eyes/ the orifice of your choosing via YouTube and the usual podcasty places.

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[aeolianblues]

Elis James on comedy on the road, 2012

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👑🐁

[qupritsuvwix]

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So blooming excited to say that a one-off comedy sitcom I wrote called ‘Gulls’, set in the gorgeous land of Burry Port, is now available to listen to on BBC Sounds as part of ‘Kiri’s Comedy Club’ on catch-up 🦅

📻 GULLS 📻

Best friends Bonnie and Llinos have been each other’s corner of sanity while growing up in the small seaside town of Burry Port. Fresh from finishing their A-Levels, they spend their summer grappling with their newfound freedom, and the sense that adulthood is approaching, whether they like it or not.

CAST:

BONNIE.... Anna Thomas

LLINOS.... Kath Hughes

TERRY... Tudur Owen

MOIRA.... Azuka Oforka

ROSE.... Laura Dalgleish

RADIO DJ…. Eleri Sion

Directed by Kiri Pritchard-McLean

Written by Anna Thomas

Produced by Jo Southerd and Henry Widdicombe

This is a Little Wander production for BBC Comedy

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The Junket Club

What comes to mind when you think of a comedy night? Drunken hecklers booing at the poor comedian? Dark and smoky rooms that sweat with a hundred audience members? Expensive tickets and uncomfortable seats? How about bingo based on Geri Halliwell’s autobiography, , a treasure hunt, a museum tour, cheap tickets (where the money doesn’t go to the organisers), and an intimate show with less than twenty people, who all become friends by the end? Doesn’t that sound more fun? Of course it does; welcome to the world of the Junket Club.

Based in Cardiff, the Junket Club offers alternative comedy nights at cheap prices, whilst still managing to land excellent guest comics. It’s the brainchild of Ben Partridge and Lisa Heledd Jones; the two became friends one summer after they realised they both had a love of comedy. “It also turned out that we had both been thinking about putting on comedy in Cardiff. So we did,” Partridge explains. “We wanted each club night to be like a little adventure and wanted to do something a bit different”.

Aiming towards a middle ground between big acts those less known, the Junket Club offers a unique atmosphere for those that aren’t keen on the traditional comedy night out. By keeping it away from the tradition of pubs and clubs, it avoids the usual problems. Ben describes the night as, “very gentle, you’d never get anyone heckling… a lot of people can be put off with some comedy clubs.” The Junket Club provides intimate settings for intimate gigs. If someone offered you a chance to see your favorite band in a venue with ten people, wouldn’t you prefer it to a venue of 10,000? Of course; it would make it a special experience. That’s the beauty of the Junket Club; the intimate venue means they can get people you wouldn’t normally see at a comedy club, and allows for a more diverse range of comedians. Previous performers include Josie Long, nominee of the 2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award, Tom Wrigglesworth, John Hegley, Isy Suttie, (Dobby from Channel 4’s Peep Show), and Elis James who recently performed on Russell Howard’s Good News. To give you further idea of what the Junket Club is about, previous locations have included a national museum, a Norwegian church, a Victorian mansion, and a forest.

The first Junket Club was held in an artist’s studio in Barry and featured future nominee of the 2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award, Tom Wriggleworth, and proved to be a huge success for Partridge and Jones. So much, in fact, that their second Junket, which took place in the planetarium Techniquest and featured Josie Long, needed a complex lottery system to assign tickets; pulling names out of a hat. Not only did people get to see comedy, but they also got a chance to spend an hour acting like kids and playing with scientific-looking buttons. Josie Long was another great-established name for the Junket, and Partridge describes how it: “could have sold out three times…Josie is quite a popular comedian… Josie personifies everything that is Junket Club and is probably one of the best comedians there is.”

There have been several Junket Clubs over the last two years, and the money never goes into the pockets of its creators, showing they really have a passion to just provide some good old-fashioned comedy and fun. The money either goes to a charity or is used to cover the travel costs of the acts, as some come from afar just to take part. The profit always goes to charity whenever it can, and previously money has been raised for The Children’s Cancer and Leukemia Group, Haiti Earthquake Appeal and Medecins Sans Frontieres, an independent humanitarian medical organisation that are committed to providing medical aid where it is most needed. Ben Partridge admits that the best thing about running his own comedy night is the freedom. “Being able to book whoever you want; It sounds simple, but we can just book shows that we’d like to see ourselves…”

My favourite so far was one with the poet John Hegley back in May. We ran a big photo treasure hunt before the gig, and everyone met at the venue with cameras full of pictures of the things they had found. We then quickly uploaded them onto computers and began the gig with a slide show of what the teams had been up to that afternoon. John Hegley was brilliant. Lisa had seen him before but I hadn’t, and I was completely amazed. It was also a massive relief that it all went well, because Lisa and I had spent the day stressing out in her kitchen making about a million rolls… we stupidly said we’d provide a buffet.”

If there were no limits on acts, location or money, Partridge’s ideal Junket Club would star Demetri Martin. The location? “In an Arctic ice palace. Each ticket holder would get a personal husky for the night that’d bring you drinks and sing you songs.” The next Junket sees a return to its origins, at the artist’s studio in Barry. As well as some top-notch comedy, those who are lucky enough to get tickets (the envied recipients’ names will once again be pulled out of a hat), are also be greeted with mulled wine, games, and music; and in true Junket style, a craft challenge and a bingo like no other. People certainly enjoy it and are coming back for more; Partridge commented that it’s had good feedback, especially from people that don’t normally like comedy nights. “It’s nice to see people going home smiling. I felt people had a time they would remember, and I like the idea that people will remember it” Nicely said.

As someone who has had the privilege of previously experiencing several Junket Clubs, it’s hard to describe the atmosphere in a conventional comedy night context; it really is one like no other. There’s a friendly vibe, where everyone is encouraged to join the fun, with one Junket Club that I attended having a fête-like atmosphere indoors, and raffle prizes brought by those attending. It was described at the time as offering, “stalls, games, tombola, tea, cakes, a mega-raffle, sunshine,” and it didn’t disappoint. As Ben sums it up so well: “It becomes like a nice party where everyone becomes friends… everyone gets to know each other.” How many comedy clubs can provide that?

For more information on the next Junket Club, go to www.thejunketclub.com. Subscribe to their mailing list to be kept up to date on all future Junket Clubs.