Cilla Black fan on bike

Yes really.

Well technically two English men, if you count Lee Hurst, which you should, seeing as the Backyard Comedy Club is his gaff and has been since it opened in 1999. In 2010 he shut it down and completely changed the building, adding a seven storey hotel on top of the Backyard Bar and Kitchen, the comedy club’s home.

I won tickets to the night through a New Year’s competition that Lee Hurst ran on Twitter. I could pick any date. Many comedians play the club but I knew that I needed to see Lee Hurst, even though (or perhaps because) I have seen him many times before, loved him on They Think it’s All Over, and could quote a lot of his standup video (“Mum, dad says he wants a parrot” – look it up) so I picked a night when he was there – 28/02. My sister loves him too. He’s our comedian (wonder how he’d feel about that), so she came with me.

Lee compered the night which started a bit terrorism heavy, while finding out where people were from and all that, which I guess has the excuse of being topical what with three girls local to the club having fled to Syria to join ISIS recently (three spare places at Bethnal Green Academy – you laugh, I’ve installed a bunker), and then continued with more terrorism speak with Andrew Maxwell, talking about the IRA.

Lee Hurst – Backyard Comedy Club

The first section was very focused on identity and what it means to be and live in London, from the point of view of Andrew Maxwell; an Irish man who has lived in London – the great divided city – for 20 years. With his lesbian Hitler haircut (his words) he kept the crowd buzzing with his social commentary and fast-paced political insight. Accents-a-go-go he talked about the media’s portrayal of racists (working class people) and those who spurn racism (posh – In Hampstead Heath we’d like more blacks: we only have Jews – types), and how in London we don’t leave dog poo on the pavement, we pick it up and hang the bags in trees like art installations.

That’s a really quick summary but those parts really made me laugh. Them and so many more. He is definitely worth checking out.

I always make notes on my phone when I go to write these things, because I don’t want to get anything wrong or forget, and it was nice to get another person’s point of view. For my sister, she felt that by making fun of terrorists, their behaviour had become acceptable/normalised. Also that there was no need to put on that Irish accent or swear so much. She’s 31.

Lee introduced the next act, Liam Speirs (the Scotsman), and I don’t really know what to say about him. I’m not sure if he was put off by the crowd or what was going on, but it didn’t go that well for me. I don’t like being mean, but the only note that I’ve made on him is I wonder if his hair was part of the act. What a bitch.

Now I’ve already looked up when Eddy Brimson is on next and how many people I want to invite, because he was not only so funny but he said a lot of things that I’d fully agree with. Politically I would be at the same march as him, he seems to get annoyed at chuggers just as much as me, and he likes pandas. With a mixture of fast-paced long stories that it really helps if you don’t have drunk idiots in the back of the crowd to ignore to keep up with (only thing that ruined it) and observations in which you can’t guess where he’s going, I loved every second and he whipped up the crowd that had been lost. I can’t wait to see him again.

Backyard Bar and Kitchen

I mentioned a little bit of trouble there, and I think it’s only fair to say that wherever there is alcohol and people, you’re going to get a little bit of that. When it’s in a comedy situation, it’s worse because it feels more interractive and it’s harder to drown people out. It’s down to the comedian to control the heckles and disturbances, and that’s exactly what they all did. Lee Hurst himself came out in the intermissions to speak to people who had interrupted the night, and well, the bit at the end was just a shame – mostly for those idiots in the back row who were missing one of the best parts of the night.

You can buy membership to the Backyard Comedy Club for £22 a year, which entitles you to see 12 shows – one a month. That’s not even £2 a show, for what is, to the normal paying punter, well worth the £13 a ticket. The bar is brilliantly priced too. You expect to go to London and be fleeced on food and drink, but it’s really reasonable, the staff are helpful and the food is good. The atmosphere is great. The first thing that hit me when I walked in was the awesome decor of the bar – that and the soundtrack. There aren’t many places where you’ll walk in to Frank Wilson’s Do I Love You (one of my personal top 5 records). I felt at home straightaway. There were some pretty active games of table tennis going on too, if that’s your thing. I’ll be going again. I also love Bethnal Green tube station, which is a two minute walk from the Backyard Bar and Kitchen.

Bethnal Green station

I’ve reviewed one other comedy show so far, which was Murray Lachlan Young at The Union in Soho. You can read it here.