Comedy and spoken word: Clowns at the poetry slam
There's an increasing overlap between comedy and spoken word nights – we speak to some of the scene's key players across the Northwest to help us investigate
If there’s one thing you can say about stand-up comedy, there’s a lot of speaking. With the ebb and flow of world events, celebrity mishaps and the latest in cute online animals, comedians have a lot of opinions, and they’re not afraid to tell them. An integral part of any performer’s creative process is turning over new material: writing, performing and the honing of jokes and stories are vital, separating the wheat from the chaff to leave only golden nuggets and confused metaphors. As such, a staple of every healthy comedy scene is the inclusion of new act and new material nights. And while the Northwest sure has its fair share of open mics, gong shows and various other formats that provide a platform for new ideas and performers, acts are always looking for more routes to performance.
Alongside their comedy scenes, cities and towns across the Northwest also host a varied and eclectic selection of spoken word nights. Like putting hoisin duck on a pizza and claiming it to be fusion cooking, stand-up comedy lends itself deliciously to spoken word nights. Comedians performing at these nights is nothing new. Storytelling juggernauts such as the international Moth events regularly welcome comedians to share their true stories; but it’s not just the opportunity for storytellers to further develop their anecdotes that is attracting stand-ups to spoken word.
While it may sound a little obvious, new material comedy nights can often bring a heavier expectation on the comedy side. This is of course crucial for acts to test jokes and practice stagecraft, but it can often be limiting. There can be a big difference between the format and performance style of an hour-long show with festival plans, and a set that is performed at a club. An hour-long show has fewer punchlines and a greater reliance upon narrative; material can be more vulnerable and challenging. With this in mind, trying out snippets of shows and stand-up for an audience with more of a focus on spoken word and theatrics can provide another context and challenge for acts seeking to broaden their creative palette.
Steve Bugeja: performing comedy at spoken word nights
According to BBC New Comedy Award winner Steve Bugeja, performing at the Manchester storytelling night Tales of Whatever in Gullivers was an integral part of developing his Edinburgh show. Having previewed his true story – of driving a convicted criminal to his (the criminal's) daughter's wedding having just left prison for the first time in 18 years – at a number of established comedy nights, Tales of Whatever gave him the chance to "tell the story in its purest form… without any jokes helping me work out the actual narrative arc."
"I'd done quite a few previews at normal comedy nights," he continues, "but the pressure there is to make people laugh. Which is fine, but not necessarily very useful when you're trying to work out a compelling story." However, that’s not to say that the audience wouldn’t appreciate the jokes: "Ironically they laughed more than at a normal comedy night." While performing at spoken word events isn’t a regular occurrence for Bugeja, he has nothing but positive things to say about the experience: "I think my show was stronger because of doing it, certainly."
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Having comics at spoken word nights doesn't just give stand-up comedians an opportunity to shape out an upcoming Edinburgh show, it also allows viewers to witness quick-witted thinkers put in different places to deliver the funny. Martin Visceral runs the night Freestyle Fictionary at Sandbar, where each month he and DJ Jomo invite guests as varied as stand-ups, beatboxers, ukulele soul musicians and steampunk rappers to help bring more laughs to the hip-hop scene. Similar to many improv comedy nights, Visceral shapes the night "on a series of games where everything is improvised, off the cuff, and we get the audience involved as much as possible."
"For us," says Visceral, "humour is a way of connecting with diverse crowds, making people feel relaxed and open to new things." Previous guests include the stand-up exploits of Ozzie Oswald, who now runs The Hip Hop Chip Shop, and comedian/musician/rapper/spoken word performer polymorph Professor Elemental, and there are plans to bring in more stand-ups in the future.
Comedy-friendly spoken word nights in the Northwest
There’s a huge array of similar nights across the Northwest: 1000 Monkeys at 81 Renshaw in Liverpool has welcomed local comedians such as Paul Smith, who brought his deft storytelling hand to ghost stories, and in Manchester there's the newly opened Chateau le Bomb at the Castle Hotel, where acts perform three-minute segments of comedy, stories or anything that comes into their heads. The opportunity to help develop the mechanics and pathos of their stories, or to be challenged to think on their feet for an audience that isn’t just there for the comedy, makes these nights staples for many performers across the Northwest. And, as more and more comedians are experimenting with spoken word, aspects of these nights have begun to seep into the ‘traditional’ comedy scene.
Another welcome addition to this roster of format-bending nights is Barking Tales, hosted and run by Harriet Dyer. Taking place every month at The Zombie Shack, the show takes inspiration from Dyer’s honest, open and very funny telling of experiences with mental health issues, and invites comedians from across the country to perform their own stories. Rather than a spoken word night, Dyer considers it "a bit more of a comedy night… but maybe that’s down to me being a comic and needy as fuck (can I say 'fuck'?) until a laugh comes." This isn’t to say that the audience puts the focus on the jokes: "Whenever any of the acts do just tell stories, as opposed to material, it is expected, respected and treated with the utmost joy."
Taking the intimacy that is cultivated through storytelling nights such as Tales of Whatever, Barking Tales combine both sides of the coin. On one side it is a sturdy, hand-picked comedy night, inviting some of the country’s best comics to the stage, such as December’s headline act Ray Peacock. On the other, it is an intimate and supportive night, allowing comedians to talk about the issues that can spur them to need laughter from strangers honestly and in greater depth. And with all profits going to Mental Health Research UK, it’s not just offering a safe space for comics, but also somewhere to tackle the stigma often associated with mental health.
Though not all spoken word nights can offer such altruistic reasons for their existence, it is comforting to know that more comedy and spoken word nights are becoming more accepting of new ideas and new styles. In the end, all types of performance are similar; whether it's comedy, music or raw live literature, each endeavour to entertain, move and connect with their respective audiences. And by the same token, each type can help bring something new to the others: whether it’s a po-faced poet taking themselves less seriously, or a joke-bound comedian bringing in sincerity. There's no doubt that collaboration between comedy and spoken word can offer the best of both worlds.
For ongoing coverage of the Northwest comedy scene, plus interviews with rising talent and big names alike, visit theskinny.co.uk/comedy