Cumbria Comedy

Rural comedy nights
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Justin's The Star Turn (5th September)

 
The Bryce Institute, Burneside, doesn't immediately appear on the radar as a comedy mecca. But if Jonny Oates gets his way it will be soon. This go-getting promoter invigorated the village with a trio of talent fresh from the Edinburgh Festival.
Mancunian comic Justin Moorhouse famous for his role in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights - was the undoubted star, far more cerebral than the Guardian has apparently cast him.
Supported by Fringe veteran Jen Brister and newcastle's chirpy chappy Chris Ramsey, it was a varying mix of styles and observations.
Moorhouse came into his own with his one-liners. As someone cracked open a tin of beer, he shot a concerned look: "You're either opening a can, or cocking a shotgun!" Naturally, the man who instantly left his seat to head for the loo was accused of "going to get the lamp and Landrover"
The audience included a psychiatric nurse from Chorley who'll have learned never to sit in the front row ever again.
Moorhouse's best line for me was how to tell if your working class, "You only buy the Radio Times at Christmas."
 
Ellis Butcher, The Westmorland Gazette

 The Geordies invade!

 

The audience at the latest Cumbria Comedy night at the Bryce Institute on Saturday could be forgiven for thinking they’d walked into a ‘Biker Grove Reunion’ according to compere Chris Ramsey, as a Toon-Army wowed another expectant audience in Burneside.

Promoter Jonny Oates stuck to the tried and tested Ramsey as compere, and this remains a popular choice. Geordie comedians Barry Dodds, Carl Hutchinson and headliner Jason Cook were in the village this time, each at different stages in their careers.

Carl Hutchinson, a newcomer, took aim at celebrity culture before finishing on an ‘X-Factor sob story spoof’, which went down a storm. Initially looking nervous, Barry Dodds was also on form. His tale of toiletry-based drug paranoia was not lost on an audience of varied ages.

Jason Cook, headlining the set, warned us of ‘the voice’, which apparently always gets him in trouble, saying the things that should remain unsaid. In a set that took in Darth Vader, Ukuleles and Fruit Bowls, ‘the voice’ could barely get a word in, the crowd often pleading to hear what it had to say. Cook, a great choice as headliner, rounded off a great night of comedy at the Bryce, or was it a Biker Grove Reunion?

 

Yenson Donbavand, The Westmorland Gazette