Comedy: Comedy & Cupcakes at Karamel

...And a Cherry on Top

Venue: Karamel club, Wood Green
Tickets: Free (voluntary contributions)

We were treated to the perfect Friday night, a great kick off to the new month. 

Lara King, with a cheeky wit and a wink, hosts this friendly, funny, foody evening on the first Friday of the month. Six comedians and an open mic slot pave the way to a delightful mix of comedy and banter, on a journey from the traditional, to character based, to sketches and overall a night filled with laughter.

February's line up was Caroline (Galloping good fun), Jack De’Ath (token male, love of graphs), Lucy Frederick(coooool), Madge Hooks (self confessed Take That and yogi tea fan), The Silky Pair (fancies me), and Rosie Wilby ("a cutlass and a dildo on Hampstead Heath") - all class acts, making the most of the intimate venue in Wood Green's cultural (you say "quarter" I say "tiny oasis") played the crowd - mixed gay and straight - a right treat.

A big whoop in particular to our friends Madge Hooks and Rosie Wilby who were in fine form, and brought quality lesbian humour to the stage.

The extra bonus with the Karamel is the restaurant right there in the studio. An excellent choice at affordable prices - we recommend the fish & chips and bread & butter pudding. As well as a bar serving for the duration. What more could you want?

Look out for next month:
Carmen Jean Ali, Elizabeth Hotson as Julie Jones, Mike Cox, (token bloke) Suzy Bennett and the fabulous all female improv troupe The Short and Girlie Show....always open mic slots and possible surprise celebrity guests....



By Katie
 

Review: Susan Calman, "This Lady's Not for Turning Either" (stand up)

Venue: Soho Theatre, Dean St Soho
Tickets: from £12

Susan Calman and Katie Bennett-Hall

According to the publicity material, Susan Calman’s show “This Lady’s Not For Turning Either”, is about growing up gay in Scotland in the 1980s. Is it b*llocks. This show is an extended heartfelt plea for equal marriage rights in the 2010s. It’s also very, very funny.

Things I have learned about Civil Partnerships thanks to Susan Calman are: you are not allowed to mention the word marriage at any point during the ceremony so that’s The Proclaimers song “Let’s Get Married” and Pam Ayer’s poem, “I’ll Marry You” banned but coming down the aisle to the “Darth Vader Death March” from “Star Wars” is highly acceptable. Your mother will insist on mustard spoons being added to the wedding list even though you have never had anyone round to dinner in the last nine years. This is because “people will look at your list and judge you. If you have condiment cutlery on the list they will think you are better than you are.” Sandi Toksvig bought them! If you want to wear tweed at your wedding go to Brewer’s in Perth where the clientelle is made up entirely of lesbians and horsey types and never the twain shall meet although where that leaves our own Clare Balding was never explained!

Apart from this not being a marriage or anything Susan has a list. A list of eight reasons Lee Cormack, her partner of the last nine years, should never ever want to marry her; how, thanks to a school girl crush on Stephanie Powers in “Hart to Hart” she now knows that should you ever be trapped in air tight glass box, use the massive diamond ring your loving partner recently gave you to cut your way to freedom and safety (Cue Susan waggling a diamond encrusted ring the size of Gibraltar courtesy of Lee Cormack.); the cats, (Including dressing the cats up, skyping the cats from London and being known locally as ‘the mad cat lady’.); why Susan should be president and biting her own toe nails.  The point of the list? If somebody wants to marry me that badly surely they should be allowed to.  She’s got a point with the toe nails.

In the closing minutes of the show Susan commented that she would also like to travel at the front of the bus.  For a moment I nearly missed the reference, on December 1^st 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama Rosa Parks refused the bus driver’s instruction to move from where she was to make space for a white passenger, sparking the American Civil Rights movement.  It’s a civil rights issue pure and simple.  This is stand up which wears its heart unusually loudly on its sleeve. 

Go, you will have a fab evening and if you end the night by clicking below and signing Peter Tatchell’s petition to Maria Miller, Secretary of State for Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport thank you from Susan Calman, Lee Cormack and thousands of shuttered hearts.

Peter Tatchell’s suggested petition to Maria Miller is at http://www.petertatchellfoundation.org/partnerships/lobby-equalities-minister-full-equality

Susan Calman is at the Soho Theatre, until Saturday 24^th November www.sohotheatre.com

Review by Laura

Read our interview with Susan on our features blog