Accidental comedian launches new night

Since comedy was proclaimed “the new rock n’ roll”, stand-up festivals have popped up all over the country and even many smaller towns have a regular comedy night. Ilkley is about to get a taste of cutting-edge humour with the arrival of the Payday Comedy Club, set up by Sheffield-based comedian Anthony J Brown.

“I got into comedy by accident, really,” says Brown. “I was in a band and the guitarist went off to ‘find himself’ in India which left me with a bit of a vacuum to fill, so I decided to try stand-up comedy – as more of a challenge to myself than anything.” Having got himself an open-mic slot at a comedy club in Manchester, Brown found he rather liked making people laugh and hasn’t looked back since. “I think that if my performance had been abject and the audience had been left completely underwhelmed, then I wouldn’t have carried on. But, luckily it went very well, so I thought it was my civic duty to continue.”

Brown’s career so far has seen him winning a number of awards and supporting the likes of Alan Carr and Phoenix Nights’ Justin Moorhouse on tour and he has been variously described as “Jarvis Cocker with a death in the family”, “Jim Dale meets Leonard Cohen” and “Antony Perkins’ screwed-up little brother.”

These days with certain star comedians able to fill huge stadia, comedy often takes place in football-pitch sized arenas where the performers appear like dots on the horizon.

“I still think that comedy works better in an intimate venue,” says Brown. “As a performer, I like the interaction you get with the audience.” The comedy clubs that Brown has been running at various different venues over many years are deliberately on a much smaller scale. Part of the motivation for setting up the Payday comedy club is to give up-and-coming performers a forum for trying out their craft. Each show has a slot for someone who is beginning their comedy journey. “I really appreciated the opportunities I had when I was starting out, so I do like to give new acts a chance,” says Brown.

For the first show at Ilkley Playhouse tomorrow, Brown has scheduled himself as one of the acts. “I’m looking forward to it – as much as a misanthrope can,” he says. “The idea is to see whether there is an interest and if it’s a success, we will do two more shows in March and April.

“Ultimately, it’s my responsibility to make sure it works; the buck stops with me.” It’s a perfect comedy combination, says Brown: “The audience is in for a delicious night’s entertainment.”