Angel Comedy is a “Comedy Institution” (according to Timeout), that has grown from a once-a-week gig above a pub into seven-nights-a-week across two venues and has become one of London’s most popular comedy clubs.
The Camden Head edit
Angel Comedy nights were originally founded in 2010 by Barry Ferns and Linus Lee, who were later joined by Sarah Pearce and Katerina Vrana. Lastly, non-comedian Simon Goss also joined the team.
It was a weekly show with the intention of giving stage time to newer acts and allowing established professional comics to test new material. In 2012 the club was extended to run three nights per week. In April 2013, Angel Comedy held London's first week long free comedy festival, and then began running nightly.
Angel Comedy soon gained popularity and reached a frequency of 7 nights a week, running out of The Camden Head in Angel, Islington, and was hosting some of the most famous acts in the country.
The comedy night has hosted comedians including Dara Ó Briain, Tommy Tiernan, Eddie Izzard, Russell Howard, Daniel Simonsen and Holly Walsh. In January 2015, Ferns launched The Angel Comedy zine and podcast, featuring interviews with comedians who have performed at the club. Celia Pacquola was the first guest on the programme.
In February 2015, the club announced that it was collaborating with the US and Canadian comedy troupe The Second City and UK comedy blog Comedy Blogedy to bring Second City to the United Kingdom.
The Bill Murray edit
In 2016 Barry Ferns and Sarah Pearce were joined by Dec Munro and Rachel Warnes in starting Angel Comedy @ The Bill Murray Pub. The idea for running a full comedy venue came about through a conversation in 2015 with the then Manager of The Camden Head, Rachel Warnes and Barry Ferns. They began looking for a local pub that the busy Angel Comedy club could expand into as a permanent home.
Rachel found the local Mucky Pup 500 meters away, whose lease was up for sale and Barry Ferns and Sarah Pearce ran three test gigs at The Mucky Pup in 2015 to make sure the space worked for comedy. The gigs were extraordinary and electric - the venue had been found! The acts that performed in November 2015 included Mark Watson, Phil Kay, Mae Martin and Richard Herring with Barry Ferns MC’ing as usual.
Dec Munro joined the project in December 2015 after Barry Ferns sought him out for advice. Dec had performed in a show Barry had directed at the Gilded Balloon at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2008 called "This Sketch Show Belongs to Lionel Richie" and had gone on to become an successful comedy director working with many acts including Sofie Hagen on her Edfringe winning show. Barry, Sarah, Rachel and Dec then signed the pub lease in May 2016, with the pub officially opening in November 2016. Exactly a year after the first test-gig at The Mucky Pup.
The Angel Comedy team launched a Kickstarter campaign to help with the renovation of the dilapidated Mucky Pup which raised over £40,000 from over 1000 comedians and supporters of the original Camden Head Angel Comedy Shows that had supported the Comedy Community for years.
Angel Comedy contacted comedian Bill Murray to seek his blessing for the pub's name, and in the absence of a response the pub is said to be officially named after William Murray, 1st Earl of Dysart.
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Now, the Bill Murray hosts Angel Comedy's workshops, courses, shows, mixed-bill nights and serves as a place for comedians to test material with a more eclectic programme of shows and Angel Comedy puts on around 40 shows a week, every week, with brand new acts and world famous stars and everyone in between.
The Graffiti edit
The Bill Murray Pub has an umistakeable outside. The building is covered with portraits of comedians Bill Murray, Bill Connolly, Victoria Wood, Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, and Rowan Atkinson. Inside in the same style, is Robin Williams.
The art was done by French street artist Zabou. She originally did the club's exterior when it was launched in 2016, but later updated the portraits in 2019.
When it was originally done, it featured the portraits of Robin Williams, Eddie Izzard, Victoria Wood, Rowan Atkinson, Richard Pryor and Charlie Chaplin.
References edit
- Angel Comedy Club Official Website. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/
- Angel Comedy Club. (n.d.). Time Out London. Retrieved from https://www.timeout.com/london/comedy/angel-comedy-club
- Angel Comedy Club (@angelcomedy). (n.d.). Twitter. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/angelcomedy
- Angel Comedy Club. (n.d.). Facebook. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/angelcomedy/
- Angel Comedy Club. (n.d.). Instagram. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/angelcomedy/
- Angel Comedy Club. (n.d.). YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/user/angelcomedy