Review: Old Town Comedy Club

We sent comedy lovers Sam Hudson and Nathan Daniels along to Suju's Old Town Comedy Club for some side-splitting laughs, here's how they got on...

On a cold and wet November night, we embarked on our journey to Suju for their monthly comedy night. Having been to Suju many times before on its normal club nights it was hard to imagine how this was going to look as comedy venue.

That said, within minutes you soon forget the fact this is normally a venue for dance music, with the dim lighting, seating area and stage set, you immediately find yourself with the nervous excitement you expect from a comedy gig.

Sitting down, there must have only been 10 people there, but within 5 minutes the venue was filling up to the point more chairs were needed for the ever-increasing crowd.

Our opening act and host came in the form of Ed Gamble, who took to the stage and immediately started interacting with the eager crowd. His quick replies to their responses to his questions were hilarious, and he warmed up the venue perfectly.

We were then treated to the first main act of 3 (all played by well-established comedian Tom Binns), Ian D Montford, a camp Sunderland psychic parody that again uses his interaction with the punters to maximum effect, his pre-written sketch mixed perfectly with his witty comebacks to the crowd banter.

Following Ed Gamble's second stint, Tom took to the stage as himself, with the use of his iPad and witty stories we found ourselves laughing at some of his misfortunes and enjoyed the more traditional comedic style.

Finally we were invited to welcome Tom’s final alias, hospital DJ Ivan Brakenbury, as the headline act. The mixture of his commentary supported by musical clips to the would-be patients requests and ailments was nothing short of hilarious! With some you knew what song was coming, but that didn't spoil any of the comedy, and others took a few seconds to hit home but when they did, the crowd were in hysterics!

This was a fantastic night which we couldn't believe it was right on our doorstep, it brightened up a miserable winter evening, and left us reading the flyer to make sure we didn't miss the next event, which we'll both be attending!