Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club relaunches monthly Saturday gigs at The Basement, City Screen with April 1 quadruple bill

Daliso Chaponda: Playing Laugh Out Comedy Club night at The Basement on Saturday

THE long wait is over. Damion Larkin’s Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club is making a post-lockdown return to The Basement at City Screen Picturehouse, York, on April Fool’s Day.

The sold-out line-up of Daliso Chaponda, Fran Garrity, Steve Harris and master of ceremonies Danny Deegan on April 1 leads off a series of 8pm gigs on the first Saturday of the month, with acts confirmed for May 6 and June 3. Doors open at 7.30pm for each show.

“The first three months of shows will feature TV comedians galore,” says Damion. “These include an international Britain’s Got Talent favourite, a BAFTA award-winning Hollywood superstar, still keeping it real with brilliant comedy sets for us, and a BBC3 sitcom star who’s a multi award-winning act and prolific writer for top names such as Steve Coogan, Johnny Vegas and John Bishop.  

“You can check out the line-ups at https://lolcomedyclubs.co.uk/ but as always we’ll be bringing you comedians off the telly from such shows as BBC2’S Mock The Week, Shooting Stars, Channel 4’S 8 Out Of 10 Cats, BBC1’S Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, Have I Got News For You, QI and Paramount’s Live At The Comedy Store.”

Each show features three professional comics and a host. “Laugh Out Loud Comedy Clubs have a successful track record of bringing the very best comedy acts on the club scene and breaking new talent on the cusp of stardom,” says Damion, who runs nights at York Barbican’s Fishergate Bar too.

Dave Johns: On the May 6 bill at The Basement

“We’re the people who previously booked Chris Ramsey, Jason Manford, John Bishop, Sarah Millican and Russell Howard before they were household names. So come and see more brilliant comedians.”

Mike Newall, Karl Porter, I, Daniel Blake lead actor Dave Johns and Jed Salisbury are confirmed for The Basement on May 6, followed by Tony Burgess, Eddy Midgley, Russell Arathoon and Damion Larkin for June 3.

Meanwhile, Jonny Awsum, Russell Arathoon and Damion Larkin are booked in for York Barbican on April 15; Alan Hudson, Joshua Robertson, Eric Rushton and Damion Larkin for May 13; Raymond Mearns, Ben Silver, The Young’Uns David Eagle and Damion Larkin for June 10, then Daliso Chaponda, Mad Ron and Damion Larkin for July 8.

Laugh Out Loud Comedy nights are held at Hull City Hall, Bournemouth Pavilion, Stoke Regent Theatre, Portsmouth Guildhall and Hastings LOL Comedy Club too.

Tickets are on sale at https://lolcomedyclubs.co.uk  and on the door, subject to availability.

Damion Larkin: Laugh Out Comedy Club programmer and master of ceremonies

Tony Burgess to top Wednesday’s Barbican bill for Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club

Headliner: Tony Burgess

LAUGH Out Loud Comedy Club hosts its final comedy night of 2021 at York Barbican on Wednesday, presenting Tony Burgess, Mike Newall and Sam Serrano, hosted by Damion Larkin.

Burgess has a starring role in BBC3 cult-comedy Ideal and pens jokes for fellow comedians Steve Coogan, Johnny Vegas and John Bishop.

He co-wrote the Sony Award-winning BBC Radio 4 comedy The Nightclass and featured among the writers for Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit.

“The real Magic Mike”: comedian Mike Newall

Mike Newall’s Nineties’ Britpop haircut gained him the nickname “the Real Magic Mike”, and when he appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, he impressed the judges so much that Simon Cowell said, “It was like an Oasis concert where the music ran out and Liam decides to tell a few jokes”.

Gender-fluid, dyspraxic comic Sam Serrano has been taking the comedy circuit by storm, not least in five shows at the online Hot Water Comedy Club. In 2018, Sam finished second in the Great Yorkshire Fringe Comedian of the Year Competition in York.

Host-promoter Damion Larkin likes to improvise his performance. Doors open at 7pm for the 8pm start in the Fishergate Bar. Tickets are on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Sam Serrano: First caught the eye in York at the 2018 Great Yorkshire Fringe