ADVERTISING FEATURE
Cheeky MONKEYS Having come a long way in a short time, Craig Angus discovers that Monkey Barrel Comedy is building a thriving year-round community of its own
T here’s New York, there’s London and then there’s Edinburgh. The Scottish capital’s relationship with comedy is a tight one, going back a long way, thanks to the biggest arts festival in the world, which brings a vast numbers of stand-ups, sketch groups and improv acts to the city every August. Careers have been made here; tiny performances in Portakabins and pub basements have become arena tours, hit TV series and the stuff of legends.
With such an emphasis on the Fringe, it’s easy to forget that the city is one of the UK’s best for live comedy all year round. Monkey Barrel were voted Best Comedy Club at the Scottish Comedy Awards 2017 and 2018, a particularly impressive feat for a new club that’s dedicated to developing new talent. The club opened in August 2016 with the aim of cultivating a comedy community that performers and audience members alike feel invested in. Taking on their own venue was a risky undertaking in the current climate, but it’s not hard to i nd supporters of their work. Their passion for good comedy and building an infrastructure to support it is acknowledged by the venue’s regular Wednesday and Sunday compere Liam Withnail, who was recently honoured as the Best Compere at the Scottish Comedy Awards: ‘If they were purely business-minded, they wouldn’t have opened a comedy club,’ he says. ‘They want to build something that lasts and has a great legacy. They’re well on their way to doing that.’
Withnail, who’s originally from Dagenham in East London, says that Edinburgh is ‘blessed’ to have another thriving venue. He sees Monkey Barrel providing an outlet both for talented artists, and for audiences who appreciate the range and value of what’s on offer. ‘We have people who come once,’ Withnail says, ‘and I see them in the audience the week after, and the week after, and the week after that. It ends up feeling like a community. I go out on stage, and there’s people who I’ve spoken to the week before. We build up a relationship.’ Another regular at Monkey Barrel is the Australian- born Oliver Coleman, who has been supported by the venue all year round. He performed his debut solo hour Delicious at this year’s Fringe, but says the assistance of Monkey Barrel’s experimental Project X showcases
(where a collective of like-minded acts take risks) has been hugely important. ‘The Edinburgh Fringe is a melting pot of various styles of comedy beyond traditional stand-up,’ Coleman says, ‘but outside of that there aren’t a great deal of comedy nights in Scotland that are set up to specii cally promote and present a wide range of various comedy styles.’ For Coleman and his cohorts, Project X provides the opportunity to have fun experimenting and pursuing alternative styles, in an environment where the audience wants to see that sort of alternative comedy. ‘If you try a character act, or something that is a bit theatrical, at a night where the expectation is that the audience will be seeing conventional stand-up,’ he says, ‘then you have to work a lot harder to make the audience comfortable.’ With another academic year upon us, new Edinburgh students with an interest in comedy would be wise to check out Monkey Barrel. With Sunday to Wednesday shows free for students and plenty of discounted drinks on offer, new and emerging talent nights like Top Banana and Progress, and the aforementioned Project X, are affordable and sociable ways to spend an evening. There’s also award-winning improv on a Thursday night for only £5, while the weekends see a host of established national and international acts hit the Monkey Barrel stage for The Big Show with resident host Rick Molland. ‘It’s a whole art form that a lot of people only really get a taste for on TV’, Withnail says, referencing Live at the Apollo and the specii c type of observational stuff that reaches that stage. ‘People think that that they’re gonna go to a comedy club; that they’ll have to sit in the front row and that someone will make fun of the way they look, the way they dress – it’s not like that!’ He laughs, adding: ‘We talk to the audience and try to have fun with people but we’re trying to make them feel welcome. The club is a great night out; you can sit and laugh with people you’ve never met, at people you might never have heard of. It’s a unique place and every week is different. It’s a great escape.’
Monkey Barrel Comedy, 9–11 Blair Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1QR, (0131) 225 5149. Open every night, free for students Sun–Wed. monkeybarrelcomedy.com
1 Sep–31 Oct 2018 THE LIST 133