MIRTH merchants across the Observer area are gearing up for a double-bill of comedy nights to wave goodbye to the most depressing month of the year.
On Thursday night (Feb 2), Rhodes in Bishop’s Stortford is welcoming three more top comics from across the UK as part of its regular Magners Funhouse Comedy Club evenings.
And the night after that, comedy promoter Jesterlarf – which runs a string of successful monthly gigs in Herts and Cambs – is spreading its wings to Essex for a launch night at Saffron Walden Town Hall.
As previewed earlier in the Observer, tonight’s headliner is former Escape to the Country presenter Nick Page, whose shock dismissal from the BBC’s popular property show – details of which will be divulged on the night - led to his unlikely rebirth as a stand-up.
He’ll be supported by award-winning young performer Nathan Caton, who’s guested on TV’s Mock The Week, and edgy, offbeat funnywoman Iszi Lawrence. Time Out-acclaimed TV scriptwriter Steve N Allen is compering.
Top of the four-strong bill in Walden, meanwhile, is Canadian-born comic Jason John Whitehead, who hit the ground running with a BBC New Comedy Award after launching his career in 2000.
More than a decade on, the seven-time Edinburgh Fringe Festival veteran has taken his show as far across the world as China and Australia as well as winning rave reviews in Metro, The Scotsman and The Independent.
Main support comes from multiple award-winner Julian Deane, whose trophy cabinet must be positively groaning with the sheer weight of accolades he’s won.
After scooping five top newcomers’ titles in 2008, including the Comedy Store’s King Gong, he went on to win a sixth in 2010. He was also runner-up in the Barbican Hackney’s New Act of the Year and semi-finalist in the nationwide So You Think You’re Funny? contest.
Edinburgh native and hometown festival regular Dougie Dunlop and regular BBC warm-up man John Ryan round out the line-up.
Magners Funhouse Comedy Club opens at 7pm and tickets are £12, while Jesterlarf opens at 7.30pm and tickets are £14 (£12 advance). See www.rhodesbishopsstortford.org.uk or www.jesterlarf.co.uk.
