You know that feeling you get when you discover a quality comedy
night with genuinely funny acts and a super-friendly relaxed
atmosphere in a nice venue? Me too.
The comedy night I'm referring to is London's monthly Retro Bar
fixture Laughing Cows, which last week featured sets from
award-winning comic Shazia Mirza, Annette Fagon, Shelley Cooper and
Sooz Kempner. Laughing Cows resident MC Maureen Younger hosted the
evening, ably assisted on the door by her mum Mabel, who bears more
than a passing resemblance to Bette Davis.
The presence of someone who looks quite a bit like Bette Davis
would have been more than enough on its own to make my evening, but
damn it if there wasn't more. In fact, there wasn't a weak link in
the entire line-up. Maureen is a confident and assured comic in her
own right, at several points happily interrogating the delighted
audience with a series of mini job-related interviews. A surprising
proportion of the audience were out of work, as it turned out. (A
similar proportion, upon questioning, were lesbians. Lesbians at a
women's comedy night? Outrageous!)
Bearing in mind the rather trying economic situation at the
moment, Laughing Cows does give you plenty of comedy for your
money. Annette Fagon was on first and turned out to be a great
opening act, exuberant and popular with the crowd. Sooz Kempner was
a lot of fun too, singing about footballer infidelity (among other
things, of course) and being charmingly self-deprecating about her
career to date. Her recently-divorced mother was in the audience
and Sooz did her best to embarrass her, in a nice way. Shelley
Cooper got a little bit political, giving us her take on
immigration issues with a historical twist, for example. Headline
act Shazia Mirza (pictured) did more than 30 minutes and was great
- really confident, energetic and intense. Material about her
family ("My parents don't know that I'm here tonight because they
don't give a shit about anything I do. They just want me to get
married."), sex, relationships and race/ethnicity was really
well-received by the audience who could, I think, have happily have
stayed there until the early hours. If you ever get the chance to
see her, take it.
So, in conclusion, a great night was had by all and I would
highly recommend you get yourself a ticket to the next one. There
are Laughing Cows nights in other cities as well; check their
website (details below) for more information.
Retro Bar
2 George Court
WC2N 6HH
Tickets: £8/£6
To Purchase Tickets Online
wegotickets.com
Tickets can also be reserved by emailing
london@laughingcowscomedy.co.uk or calling Laughing Cows on 07838
585 670.
Contact info
Email: london@laughingcowscomedy.co.uk or call 07838 585 670
laughingcowscomedy.co.uk
