Saeth Wheeler Archives - charleshutchpress

Katie Lingo in the main ground-floor room at Patch at the Bonding Warehouse, York, where she will host the monthly Funny Fridays comedy nights

PATCH, York’s new co-working space, will echo to the sound of laughter tomorrow at the Bonding Warehouse for the first time since the days of Michael S Bennett’s Comedy Shack.

Set up to support York’s burgeoning comedy scene, Funny Fridays is the new monthly venture from York comedian Katie Lingo, otherwise known as Katie Thompson, purveyor of copywriting, content strategy, journalism, digital marketing, reporting and data visualisation services at the Raylor Centre industrial park off James Street.

To bring a smile to her face, the debut bill of Kenny Watt, Tuiya Tembo, Matty Oxley, Saeth Wheeler and John Pease has sold out already at an introductory price of £6.50 but tickets are available for the second night on June 13, when admission will rise to £10.

Kenny Watt: Scathing Scottish current affairs commentator

“There will be drinks. There will be swears. There will be laughs,” says Katie Lingo managing director Katie, who will host the event from 7.30pm in Patch’s main room, kitted out with a bar, on the ground floor.

“I’m a member of York Creatives, so, when Patch re-opened the Bonding Warehouse as a co-working space, Thom (site director Thom Feeney) suggested I should put on a comedy night here, harking back to the Comedy Shack days.”

Set up by the late Michael S Bennett in the early 1990s, the club’s first three shows were headlined by rising talents Mark Thomas, Alistair McGowan and Jo Brand, while Bennett asked a then-unknown north-eastern comedian by the name of Ross Noble to compere the bills. A nascent Lee Evans would later appear there too.

“I feel very honoured to have been asked, and to know to know that I’ll be running Funny Fridays where so many of my comic heroes once played,” says Katie Lingo

Now Katie is picking up the comedy baton. “I started performing comedy in January 2024 and the biggest place I’ve done so far is the Comedy Store in London,” she says.

“I’ve performed at Complete Joke Comedy nights in The Den at Micklegate Social, held on the first Sunday of every month, and I’ve played Laughs On Draught at Brew York, off Walmgate, too.

“Soon I’ll be doing the new Rik Mayall Comedy Festival [running from May 31 to June 7] at Droitwich Spa, a lovely little village where I went in March.”

Saeth Wheeler: Performing on the first Funny Fridays bill at Patch

Katie is thrilled to be setting up Funny Fridays, with its format of five acts per bill, each performing 15 minutes upwards to a seated capacity of 120 (or 130, standing).

“Absolutely! I feel very honoured to have been asked, especially to do so at a building that has played its part in York’s history, and also to know that I’ll be running it where so many of my comic heroes once played,” she says.

Katie looks forward to introducing tomorrow’s five acts: Saeth Wheeler, the “rampant socialist lesbian the Daily Mail warned you all about”; Kenny Watt, Scottish export of scathing current affairs commentary; Matty Oxley, BBC New Comedy Awards semi-finalist; Tuiya Tembo, quirky, lively and brutally honest cultural observer, and John Pease, Edinburgh Fringe Gilded Balloon finalist with a touch of southern comfort.

Katie Thompson: managing director of Katie Lingo writing, content marketing, blogging and word research business, podcaster, Funny Fridays host and comedian

How would she describe her own comedy style? “I would say, very physical, loud, energetic and profane. I was very, very inspired by Rik Mayall when I was growing up. Harry Enfield, Jennifer Saunders and Helen Lederer too,” she reveals.

As it happens, she will be interviewing Helen Lederer for an upcoming episode of the My Bottom podcast.

Funny Fridays, at Patch, The Bonding Warehouse, Terry Avenue, York, tomorrow, 7pm for 7.30pm start, SOLD OUT. Age restriction: 18 plus. Tickets for June 13 can be booked at eventbrite.co.uk/e/funny-fridays-at-patch-tickets.

Tuiya Tembo: Appearing on the Funny Fridays bill at Patch tomorrow

What is Patch?

PATCH invested £900,000 to set up a 12,000 sq ft co-working space in the Bonding Warehouse, Terry Avenue, York, opening in February. This space aims to accommodate approximately 50 companies and 400 members, offering office and co-working spaces, with a focus on tech, media and education industries. Comedy and live music events are held there too.

*Dexter Enjoying A Well Earned Toke, by Steve Walmsley*, *from the Punk/Jazz Contrasts & Connections exhibition*

YORK creative hub Navigators Art & Performance is exploring iconic genres – the punk era and the jazz age – in its autumn exhibition at Micklegate & Fossgate Socials and Saturday’s live event at The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York.

Punk/Jazz: Contrasts and Connections asks: A Love Supreme or No Future? Are punk and jazz at odds or two sides of a coin?

The answer to a question with a nod to American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane’s 1964 album and the Sex Pistols’ nihilistic mantra from 1977 single God Save The Queen comes through a combination of painting, drawing, collage, print, words, sculpture, photography and music.

“Punk and jazz? Each can be controversial, uncompromising, confrontational,” says Navigators Art co-founder Richard Kitchen. “The best of each is groundbreaking, pushing conventions to the limit. Both can hurt. Both can heal.”

*The Palm Tree Jazz Club, by Ali Hunter*

On show at the Micklegate Social and Fossgate Social bars is new work by a fresh line-up of artists from York and beyond. “We’re featuring a healthy mix of the known and the less familiar, including Ali Hunter, Carrianne Vivianette, George Willmore, Nick Walters, river smith, Sharon McDonagh, Steve Beadle and Steve Walmsley,” says Richard, who is among the exhibitors as ever.

“There’s a special treat too: the welcome return to the York art scene of entrepreneur and local legend Chalky the Yorkie.”

Saturday’s specially curated live performance at The Basement, Punk/Jazz: A Halloween Special, features York bands The Bricks, Teleost and Things Found And Made (Dunmada), the polemical words of activist poet Rose Drew and Saeth Wheeler delivering psychic-themed comedy.

Doors open at 7pm for this 7.30pm event, presented in association with The Random Cabaret and York Alternatives, and the Basement bar will be open throughout.

“Expect experiments, improvisation and noise! Some of the material will not be suitable for young children,” Richard forewarns.

Here, Richard Kitchen discusses punk, jazz and art, contrasts and connections with CharlesHutchPress

How can jazz and punk hurt, Richard?

“When we came up with the theme, many people said, ‘I don’t like jazz but I like punk’ or vice versa. We’re talking generalisations but not stereotypes here, and we’re interested in spiritual or free jazz, rather than more polite versions.

“They’re both polemical in terms of both sound and ideology. Many people feel threatened by them. Then, of course, they take aim at certain targets, political, social and cultural, and challenge them.”

How can jazz and punk heal?

“People can find themselves through music, whether as players or listeners. Both these forms of music offer a world, even a philosophy, that people develop a passionate relationship with.

“We’ve proposed that punk is an attitude, jazz is a state of mind. Freedom, independent creativity, social justice: they represent values systems that go beyond music in search of a better world. We as Navigators Art have followed those values in giving ourselves permission to achieve things that others have said we couldn’t – or even shouldn’t!”

How did dapper activist artist Chalky the Yorkie become involved in the exhibition?

“We met Chalky at a show last Christmas, chatted to him about art and music and his own history as an artist in York, and felt we’d like to get him involved in the scene again. He had some work that responds perfectly to the Punk/Jazz theme.”

Names new to Navigators Art are among the Punk/Jazz artists: how were the exhibitors selected this time?

“We did a general call-out for the first time on social media and Curatorspace. We’ve had quite a constant presence over the past 18 months and it was time to freshen things up, to avoid the same people making the same kind of work each time. We’ve gone back to basics, with a core admin group and a network of wonderful new and emerging artists and performers.”

Are you a punk fan, a jazz fan, or both?

“Personaslly? A fan of both but they’re broad terms, aren’t they? Anything exploratory and exciting gets my vote. Sheer noise? No! Cocktail lounge tinkling? No! Extreme hardcore where there’s no space to let the music breathe? No! But others in the group have their own preferences of course.”

Punk gets things done in a rush with plenty to say; jazz just faffs around, taking forever to not make any point…Discuss!
“Two sides of a coin, as we say. But the coin itself is the same. They aren’t exclusive. Sometimes you want to shout and get things out of your system; sometimes you want to muse on things at length.

“Punk or jazz, the musicians are working out how best to express themselves, whether it’s protesting about something for two minutes or exploring their own state of mind for hours! The key factor in both is honesty, being true to yourself. I’d say that’s what attracts an audience too.”

*John Coltrane, by Carrianne Vivianette*

Punk had no future, nowhere to go. Jazz is always evolving…Discuss.

“Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten/John Lydon realised punk was imploding very early on, becoming formulaic. Once you get into the punk that led to what became a post-punk freedom to experiment, there’s an openness to many other forms of music, including jazz, dub, world music and so on that created a kaleidoscope of marvellous new forms.

“New jazz is emerging now, which similarly draws on other influences, especially electronics. Labelling music as one thing or another is a convenient shorthand but genuinely creative artists rarely think in those terms.”

What is the full line-up for Saturday’s live event?

“The musicians will be The Bricks, an energetic punk band fronted by Gemma from comics shop Travelling Man, in Goodramgate; Teleost, who are more intense and improvisatory; the Neo Borgia Trio who have formed especially for the occasion from a University of York big band; Mike Ambler, with some grunge-influenced solo songs,; and Things Found And Made (Dunmada), whose experimental set is a secret even from us. Then there’s firebrand poet Rose Drew and comedians Isobel Wilson and Saeth Wheeler.”

What is Navigators Art & Performance?

*Punk/Jazz: Two sides of a coin or not?*

THIS York creative collective brings a DIY ethos and punk belief in building from minimal resources to exhibitions, live events, projects and commissions.

“We’ve created events for StreetLife and York Festival of Ideas, and we’re now running live events at The Basement, City Screen,” says co-founder Richard Kitchen.

“We present original material for an audience to discover something fresh and exciting.

We encourage young artists, emerging talent and those who feel disadvantaged or underrepresented.”

Punk/Jazz: Contrasts and Connections runs at Micklegate Social and Fossgate Social, York, until January, with the closing date yet to be confirmed. Free entry during opening hours. Tickets for Punk/Jazz: A Halloween Special are on sale at https://bit.ly/nav-punkjazz

Tag: Saeth Wheeler

York writer-performer Katie Lingo launches Funny Fridays comedy nights at Patch in revamped Bonding Warehouse

What is Patch?