Long Live Long Live Comedy!

Up and down the country open mic comedy nights start up and shut down on what seems like a monthly basis. For the North East there are more comedy nights than ever before. A new open mic night started last month, there is another one starting this month, another one just shut down, but when you look at the scene there are only a handful of established nights that have been running longer than a year. There is one night in particular that has been running longer than the rest, possibly longer than all the established open mic nights put together; the aptly named Long Live Comedy.

This month (June 2012) marks 2 years since my first stand-up comedy gig. That particular gig shut down a long time ago. Next month will mark 2 years since my first gig at Long Live Comedy. That was a terrible gig. I had been told that Long Live comedy was the gig to do, that everyone starts there, so I was keen to make an impression. It was a really big deal for me. My friends were very supportive of me trying stand-up comedy and so wanted to come and watch. Did I mention it was terrible? It was terrible. Long Live Comedy runs themed nights, where comedians can try out material based around a theme. I wasn't aware that nobody ever paid attention to the themes. The theme of my night was North. Did I try and write material about being from the north? No. I talked about magnets. I talked about compasses. I remember mentioning pirates at one point. My friends after the gig did well not to even mention what just happened. I filmed the set so I could watch back how I did. I've never watched it. I never plan to watch it. Needless to say none of that material ever got used again. 

My next gig at Long Live Comedy was 3 months later (I had another one in July so this was gig number 4. 4 gigs over 4 months, how things have changed) and it went much better. 

Everybody who starts out doing stand-up in the North East will have their own stories of success and failure at Long Live Comedy. Sarah Millican and Chris Ramsey both started there and I'm sure they will have stories of their own too. Every week new comedians start out, more experienced comedians try new material and every once in a while a huge name in comedy (most recently Reg D Hunter) might just show up to try out new ideas. It's just that sort of gig. For nearly 6 years Long Live Comedy has brought you the future of stand-up, so while new nights keep starting up and other keep shutting down you can expect Long Live Comedy to be still around, sticking true to it's name. 

For more information check out www.longlivecomedy.com (I've recently given the site a facelift)

Long Live Comedy runs every Tuesday at The Dog and Parrot, Newcastle Upon Tyne.