MONKEY BUSINESS BLOG 2007

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Sentimental look back 2007

 

 

Sat 6 January 2007. Just as top act

Jeff Inocent 

 did a great routine about dogs .  A dog could be heard barking loudly from the street  below .It was very funny.

 

 

Friday 26 January 2007  The  if commedies award winner

Phil Nichol 

Stephen K Amos 

& Richard Herring were all in amazing top form making tonights show the big one of the season so far

 

Wednesday 31 January 2007 Monkey Business has half page article in this weeks Camden Gazzette in connection with

Beth Winslet ( sister of Hollywood actress Kate Winslet  star of films like Titanic,& Little Children time at the club Page 9.Wed 31st Jan edition .

Beth  Winslet praises Monkey Business telling how much

 she enjoyed her evening. 

 

 

Wednesday 7 February 2007

Noel Fielding sent me a very warm

  text message today saying that as he is presently  involved in writing projects so performing at Monkey Business will have to go on hold just at the moment.

 

 

Wednesday 14 February 2007

 I sent a text to Russell Brand


 to see if I could have a guest ticket for the Brit Awards tonight for which he was the presenter.

 

He never got back to me "The Swine "

: Hari Krishna to Russell anyway.

I thought he did very well .

 

 

Saturday 17 February 2007 

It was a  show full of twists and turns , Frictional from start till end involving several of tonight`s performers Meryl O Rourke 

for her baby talk to a table of 15 midwifes,Scott Capurro  when shouting at a table of 18 year old girlies for chatting during his set.

 Josh Howie 

a jewish comic during his set  had to deal with a heckle of Yid boy from a member of the audience with a Jade Goody mentality,and then The last act ,a German woman with a guitar ,revealed that relatives of hers had proudly  flown the nazi flag ,.

It was a very interesting  evening full of drama  that

was like the Big Brother  episode with Jade and Shilpa. 

The punters left smiling and happy looking as if they had been well entertained  .

 

 

Thursday  22 Febuary  2007   Monkey Business has another half page write up in the Ham & High  Arts & Features

(Back page) Febuary 22 2007  Writes Matt Eley.

It`s time to stop monkeying around

It seems to have been at just  every pub in Camden Town at one time or another-but Monkey Business is proving you can`tkeep a good comedy club down.

OK, so the every pub thing is a slight exaggeration,but it`s fair to say Monkey Business has been around the block a bit.

        Its first regular address was downstairs at Bar113 in Bayham Street but after a couple of years it shuffeld along Camden High Street and made its way upstairs at the Lush Bar.

        After that venue changed hands,it was forced to find yet another home and is currently settlling into life at O` Reilly`s in Kentish Town Road

  But the club`s promoter Martin Besserman is not reaching for his slippers just yet.

        "A lot of promoters get fed up because the relationship with the bar manager can be a very delicate situation.Its never a surprise if someone says they do not want to do the comedy anymore.But  O` Reilly`s  has been good .The location is not quite as sexy but the room is excellent and they are letting me get on with it and do my own thing."

Martin Besserman & Noel Fielding playing with ducks

 Doing it his way has helped Besserman establish Monkey Business as a club where bigger names are keen to appear because they know they will get a recptive audience.

       Harry Hill,Russell Brand,,Jimmy Carr,and Stewart Lee have all appeared on the the relatively modest stage.                                             

.       And Besserman ,who MCs all the shows himself ,belives it is his ethos and approach that helps attract star performers.

   Like many people in the industry he started his comedy career full time after the end of a relationship but has found a new love in staging nights of stand -up comedy entertainment .

   He said "I have always been fascinated by comedy and comedy as live entertainment.

          " There are so many people with problems emotionally or ecconomically and comedy can provide such a release- even  if it is just temporary.

   "Of course I  have to make a living.But I think if you run a club from a spritual perspective rather then purely corportate,money making  way,people know where you are coming from.

      " If you put on bills that are intellectually stimulating,you are going to connect with the type of people you want." .

 

 

Friday 23 Febuary 2007

 It seems that being a politically correct comic is going out of fashion

 Both Sean Meo 

& Ian Cognito  had near the mark stuff about Muslims .  The audience looked a bit shocked in the case of both comics ,but their honesty & warmth combined with  very clever material won them over in the end. What ever next Jim Davidson  perhaps ?

 

 

Monday  5  March  2007

Spoke with Harry Hill  to ask him if he was free to put in a couple of gigs for me.Harry requested me to call  him back in late April saying he should be able to perform again at Monkey Business in late May or June. 

 

 

Saturday 10 March 2007 Met up with Noel Fielding 

in Kentish Town during afternoon.I showed him my new venue. After meeting him face to face I felt very confident that he will perform again at Monkey Business when he becomes less busy.

 

 

Friday 16 March 2007

 Brendon Burns got a strong reaction from an Irish woman after using the term cunt.

Reg.D.Hunter   also on the bill had fun with the same woman when he took to the stage

 

 

Thursday 22 March 2007 

 John Otway  & Attila the Stock Broker were both highly entertaining at a Monkey Business Special night.

Above is a happy looking John Otway

 

Our Jewish Easter Show on Sunday 8 April had to be postponed due to not many ticket sells. As Jewish comedy gigs usually attract full houses ,I realise now that having the show in the middle of Passover was not the best idea.We intend to try again soon.

 

 

Friday 13 April 2007 

 Monkey Business is Critic`s choice 2 weeks running in Time Out magazine  ,and also 2 weeks running in the Evening Standard.Another fantastic fete for the club is that thoughout most of today Monkey Business went to the top of the most viewed site on Time Out`s web page. 

 

Saturday  14 April 2007

top model Kate Moss  our very special guest tonight was laughing lots , telling me afterwards that she had really enjoyed the night

   

The entertainment was provided by

 Will Smith ,Mitch Benn & Cary Marx, Kate Moss had no complaints ,but a woman did  become confrontational because the acts following Will Smiths excellent performance were both slightly delayed thanks to the Northern line

 

Thursday 3 May 2007 Again both Time Out magazine,and The Evening Standard have this Saturdays 5 May show as their critics choice.

 

Saturday 5 May 2007 Another smashing night which included top act

Nina Conti   & her Monkey.

 

Saturday 12 May 2007  It was a fantastic night with huge TV personality and top comic

Sean Lock

 putting in a secret gig.

  

 

Thursday 17 May 2007   Lewis Schaffer Schaffer made the very

first jokes about the guilt of the McCanns - he

has two kids, one same age as Madeleine - and

some people laughed and agreed.,but got heckled by a few who diden`t agree. Lewis Schaffer  told me that he  saw parent's involvement from the very begining and wasn't fooled by them.

  I must say that I very much disagree with Lewis .I think Madeleine`s parents are totally inocent of any involvment.

 

Bruce Forsyth   &  Vernon kay together with BBC TV  requested me to nominate  unsigned Monkey Business acts to be  auditioned regarding a new Saturday night prime time show .If one of the acts is sucsessful the future could look very bright for them

 

 

Sunday 27  May 2007 Latest news on the posssibility of Harry Hill putting in new dates for me is that when I last spoke to him a few days ago he was tied up so we will just have to see ,

 

 

Thursday 7 June 2007 Monkey Business is highlited in The London paper regarding

Lucy Porter`s gig with us tomorrow,& we we have a whole page great review in the comedy magazine The Fix in connection with Stephen Carlin`s recent gig with us.

 

Saturday 9 June  2007

Reginald D Hunter`

 s

 2007 Edinburgh show performance was not without controversy as he puffed away in our no smoking club.A  woman shouted out her objection to this   .

Reg had trouble making comedy from her outburst .There was mixed reaction from other members of the audience Some also requested Reg to stop puffing, but others started lighting up showing  their support for Reg   .One young man declared " I am here for the comedy not to have rules poured down my throat."

    I drove Reginald home afterwards and he told me that he respected the woman`s challenge ,and was in fact looking forward to Britain`s smoking ban fromJuly 1st..

 

Sunday 10 June  2007

Reginald D Hunter

 

joined me to Speakers Corner in Hyde Park "a place he had not ever been before.It took a few cups of Vodka but Reg climbed my ladder and spoke.giving a very fair performance..

 

 

 

Friday 22 June  2007

 Aussie sensation Adam Hills  

was truely excellent when performing his first gig at Monkey Business having the crowd in stitches & Lewis Schaffer as support was also in great form tonight.

 

Friday 29 June  2007  Canadian comic Jason Rouse  had a hard gig tonight with heckles from the audience " .

Interestingly Jason stormed the club when last  with us a  couple of years ago with similar shock sexual material.

 

Saturday 30 June  2007

 A smashing evening with Two classy stand ups .

Stephen K Amos

  A regular contributor on Big Brothers Big mouth ,and who recently  has made a big impression performing to huge audiences across Australia, and Matt Kirshen who has reached the last ten competitors in the  American talent contest ,The Last Man Standing.

 

 

Wednesday 4 July 2007

Russell Brand was to be filmed at a top secret

Monkey Business gig today but the filmmakers decided  to move it to a theatre at the last moment.

  

 

Thursday 5 July 2007  Bruce Dessau / Evening Standard has made our show tomorrow his number One critics choice with a smashing photo of

 Josie Long .Bruce describes Josie  as the gifted irrepressible queen of Indi comedy who might walk off with every award available in Scotland next month

 

 

Friday  6  July 2007 Josie Long was playful and fun,but a group of thirty young men from Sandhurst  made life a bit tough for her as her style of comedy was not what they had expected.The lads  were polite,allthough just a little noisy.

Gorden Southern on the bill had a much easier path.

It is never an easy gig if you have two very different types of people,and tonight that was the case.

 

 

Saturday 7 July 2007 A smashing night with Three top acts performing hard hitting comedy Andy Zalzsman along with Angie Mcvoy & John Lenahan replacing Phil Nichol .

The audience loved every moment.

 

 

Tuesday 10 July 2007  Max Somerset a good friend of mine for many years who has performed at Monkey Business a number of times

 invited me to attend the  BBC 1 Champers  party to celebrate the huge success of his brand new  reality magic show "The  Sorcerer`s Apprentice " now on BBC1 every night at 5.oclock

..

 

Friday 13 July 2007 A nice evening with Two top comics Jeff Green,& Nick Doody

 

Saturday 14 July 2007

Rich Hall in a top secret gig tonight .There was lots of loud laughter.

 

 

Monday 16 July 2007 I spoke with Noel Fielding 

in the morning who said that I should phone him back tomorrow so we can put some dates in  December .Keep fingers crossed for me everyone x

 

 

Tuesday 17 July 2007 Had not managed to speak again with Noel but  I left him a message .

 

Went along to  the  Hackney Empire which had a super show  to thank Malcolm Hay Time Out comedy critic over 20 years for all his support now that he is leaving the job.

The acts included Al Murry the pub landlord ,Scott Capurro, Mark Thomas,Mitch Benn,and Omid Djalili .Malcolm told me that he enjoyed the show that much he forgot to be embarressed.

 

 

 

Thursday 19 July 2007 Monkey Business is Critics Choice in this weeks Time Out magazine regarding this Saturdays show ,and our club once again held the number 1 slot for the most visited site on the Time Out web page .

 

 

 

Friday  20 July 2007  Sean Lock   

  performed a top secret gig tonight and the man was once again  was in cracking form .Look out next Monday on Channel 4 when he presents TV Heaven ,Telly Hell.

 

 

 

Friday  27 July 2007  Michael Mcintyre 

gave a hugely entertaining performance at Monkey Business tonight.

This is one fine comedian.

   

 

 Saturday 21July 2007 Rhod Gilbert

   and Brendon Burns  were both in excellent form doing their Edinbugh Preview shows .

 

 

Wednesday 15 August 2007 Got myself invited to the premiere of the Bourne Ultimatum in Leicester Square .I was sitting just in front of Prince and his entourage of bodyguards. Interestingly Stephen Fry , sitting in front of me, was unprotected.

 

 

Thursday 16 August 2007 New act George Muluge made sexist remarks,and made the big mistake of attempting to make the audince feel guility for not  being that receptive to his jokes.

Also the suggestion that Maddie's parents could have been responsible for their missing daughter was unneccessary.

 

 

.Monday 20 August 2007  I spoke live on BBC Radio London  94.9 FM The Late Show with

Jumoke Fashola  on various subjects  including Monkey Business,  speaking at Speakers Corner , and spoken word.

I also reviewed the mornings papers

 

 

 Tuesday 28 August 2007 

I was  invited back to speak on BBC Radio London 94.9 FM on the Robert Elms Show to talk about his Monkey Business comedy club,and the launch of his new club soon to open

 

 

Wednesday 5 September 2007 Spoke today with Harry Hill who said that allthough he was quite busy with TV projects this autumn he might be able to put a gig in for me at short notice.

 

 

 Saturday 22 September 2007 

Mark Thomas performed a secret first ever gig at Monkey Business.He was in flying form.

 

 

Monday 24 September  2007

I  bumped into Simon Amstell  of 

"Never Mind the buzzcocks" at the Steeles pub, who wished me luck regarding the opening of my new Monkey Business club there.

He spoke nostalgically of his Two gigs with me Three years ago ,saying that he would pop his face in once I get the new club running.

 

 

Thursday 4 October Monkey Business has a whole page write up on the club in the Camden Gazzette

 

 

Thursday 4 October

Time Out magazine  choose our show at  The Sir Richard Steeles  this Saturday their critic`s choice .and Monkey Business went top of Time Out`s most viewed page

.

 

Saturday 6 October 2007 Our first show at The Sir Richard Steele in Chalk Farm saw a full house  having an excellent time.

The entertainment was provided by Richard Herring ,Nina Conti,Inda Manocha ,and Jade The Folk Singer.

 

 

 

Monday 8 October & Tuesday 9 October 2007 For the 2nd week in a row Time Out magazine has our next Saturday`s show at The Sir Richard Steele`s Chalk Farm as their critic`s choice.

Also Monkey Business  became the most viewed on the Time Out web site.

 

 

 

Friday 12 October 2007 A rather quite evening came alive thanks to  our headline act Dan Antolpolski bursting into song with audience member Oli joining in.

 

 

 

 

Saturday 13 October 2007 A group of people sitting in the front, drunk out of their heads made life hard for the performers that included Stephen K Amos,& Dan Antolpolski. at The Steeles. They should never have been allowed in.

Half way though the show the real audience demanded that the stage be moved to the middle of the room ,and that`s what happend, It all turned into a nice gig eventually.

 

 

 

Wednesday 14 November Monkey Business put on a superb show in conjuntion with  BBC Radio London 94.9 & BBC TV (a fund raiser for Children in need at Sir Richard Steeles. Acts providing the entertainment included

 Felix Dexter,Richard Herring,Lee Nelson,Inda Manocha,Simon Munnery,Steve Weiner,&  lovely Edina from Hungry played some beautiful flamenco music.

 

 

Friday 23 November 2007  Rich Hall performed another top secret gig for us giving another amazing performance.

 

 

Saturday 1 December 2007

Lucy Porter and Nina Cont   i were amongst the fabulous acts to night spreading the smiles & laughter.

 

 

 

Saturday 8 December2007 After a number of  hugely enjoyable sucsessful shows in the last few weeks at the new Steeles venue, tonight`s show turned  unpleasant when an audience member decided to throw his shoe  towards the stage which hit one of the performers. I came in for a fair bit of stick for not ejecting  the man from the club straight away, which I now deeply regret. However, at the time I was concerned that his 20 rowdy mates could get nasty, having seen this happen at another club where there was bloodshed.                                 

I do feel bad for this  fantastic stand up performer who certainly did not deserve this.

I did confront the man and asked him why he had done it, and I realised  he had been stupid rather than malicious. He apologised, but at the end of the set I asked him to leave which he did, a  few minutes later.           

The man couldn`t find his shoe, which I guess was a little bit of a punishment.  Monkey Business has always been a friendly club which has not needed security in the past due to the generally warm and tuned in audiences we attract. 

 

Saturday 15 December 2007 Monkey Business at the Steels  enjoyed one of the best shows of the whole season with a fully delighted audience entertained  by Simon Munnery,Gordon Southern,Steve Weiner ,and sketch group Gag Reflex,amongst others.

 

Monday 31 December 2007 We had a smashing New Year Eve show to end an amazing Monkey Business year .The acts included  entertaining crooner Gary Howard from the Flying Pickets who had a number 1 Christmas hit with Only You