Noncon? Noncon!

A deliberately enigmatic title for this blog, designed to reel you in and make you think "how intriguing. What on earth is a Noncon?"

Well, Noncon is my abbreviation for the newest comedy night in Colchester, the NonConformist Comedy Club, which debuts in the town on Wednesday 8th January, 2014. It's a chance for performers new and old to test out material in an open mic setting, with a leaning towards alternative comedy. I am of the opinion that within Colchester itself the opportunities for alternative comedians are few and far between (though nights do exist, such as the Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club at Missoula and the Hole in the Wall Comedy Night), and by putting on Noncon another platform is created.

Typically a slot will last for 5-10 minutes and it'll also give the crowd a chance to give anonymous feedback to performers via comment sheets, so that the experience is interactive and engaging.

Hopefully, this will become a monthly fixture on Colchester's cultural calendar, as I'm certain that there are a number of alternative comics there who are gasping at the chance to perform locally, get their chops and help them along with a burgeoning comedy career. A man can hope...

Anyway, if you'd like to sign up to perform at the event, you can do so via the Facebook event page. As stated, we are more in favour of alternative rather than traditional comics so if you think you fit the bill, please get in contact and we'll be glad to have you

In the meantime, check out this largely unknown gem from the 1990s, Cluub Zarathustra.

Happy dreaming.

AltCom! Number 2! December! 6th!

As you can see, I've been both liberal with my exclamation marks and lax with my grammar with regards to the title of this blog post, but that's because I'm very excited about the next Altcom on December 6th. I've just about managed to hold it together and not wet myself.

So what is the Altcom, exactly? It's a compound word, abbreviating "Alternative" and "Comedy" to make it sound appealing. And appealing it will be. At the first Altcom, we had performances from Stuart Gardener, Timmy Pippins and The Rev. Dr. Ian Prolix?, and was a success, at least in my eyes. That was at 15 Queen Street (http://15queenstreet.org), one of Colchester's Creative Hubs that has groups such as Colchester Write Night and The Arts Forum operating out of it. We've moved from there to St Botolph's Waiting Room (http://www.st-botolphs.org), one of the newest spaces in our historic town that hosts an incredibly wide range of events. I've had the pleasure of hosting two Poetry Open Mics there, as well as going to Phil Mill's (a friend of the workshop) Illuminated Sound evening, which is part of a series of events going under the name Ekohcitra - yes, that is Artichoke backwards - and you can find out more about what they're doing here: https://www.facebook.com/Ekohcitra?fref=ts

Who's on the bill for Altcom? First up we have Dr Yorick McCarthy, a retired doctor who has decided in his dotage that reading skew-whiff Sci-Fi stories is worthwhile. Watch Yorick tell one of his stories here.

Next is Amanda Lay, who takes observational comedy in new, interesting directions, tempered by a cynical yet enthusiastic delivery. Follow Amanda here.


Our headliner for the evening is Keith Sparrow, finalist at this year's Colchester New Comedian of the Year. A very physical, occasionally intimidating performer. In the video below, he talks about the spirit of Christmas.

 

It's going to be worth your while joining us at The Waiting Room on the 6th December. Entry is FREE and there's a licensed bar. If you are very lucky and treat me nice, I'll buy you a drink. That's the ultimate incentive.

Register your interest for the Altcom here, on the Facebook event page. 

My apologies to Holly Powis who was meant to be the next blog poster. I was just too damn excited.

You can also join us at the Workshop next Thursday, where we will be hosting one of our regular meetups at Slack Space. 

Event page is here.- let us know you're coming! Perhaps send us some sketches via colchestercomedyworkshop@gmail.com too. Let's see what you're made of.

Sarek out.