An Introduction to The Very Best In Stand Up...
Straight Up Comedy have been organising comedy for a number of years in Crewe and Nantwich. Firstly at Crewe's Limelight Club, then onto The M Club in Crewe before moving on to it's current home at Nantwich Civic Hall. In that time, we've been incredibly lucky to see some fantastic talent play our stages, wherever they've been.
The very first set on stage for us was an open spot from Sarah Millican and since then we've had some fantastic comedic talent taking to the stage bringing hundreds of hours of laughter with it. You can only bring the best acts to perform when your shows have a reputation for being a warm and receptive environment for comedy. Thanks to the people that buy tickets, support the shows and create this environment, we've been able to ensure that the Very Best In Stand Up is one of the best nights out in the area.
All Images by Stuart F. Steele
American comic Reginald D Hunter has always been amongst the biggest draws to our shows and opened our first show at Crewe's M Club in March 2009. A brilliant set with an amazing last two minutes that will live long in the memory for those who were there.
John Bishop needs no introduction and although John was already well on the way to stardom when he played this date in 2008, it was easy to see he was in a comfort zone onstage...especially since just out of shot, John's drink of choice was a mug of tea.
Widely known as "The King Of Cool" on the comedy circuit, Tom Stade has been a staple in our booking diaries since we started running comedy. This show at The M Club in 2009 saw Tom get an encore and get mobbed for photos and autographs after the show.
The M Club was a great venue for comedy. In a little over 12 months that The Very Best In Stand Up ran at the club, every single ticket was sold - a fantastic show of support for live comedy.
Toby was resident compere with us at The Limelight for several years. Creating an instant affinity with audience members old and new, Toby was a staple of live comedy for us at The Limelight and has enjoyed success with his show "Moths ate my Doctor Who Scarf", which was turned into a BBC production and audiobook.
Before making his name in a big way stateside, Australian Jim Jeffries carved a career out of his charming but caustic brand of comedy and we're thrilled to say that we've had tour dates from Jim since we began. On his recent "Fully Functional" tour, Nantwich Civic Hall was easily the smallest, most intimate date on an otherwise huge theatre tour. September 2008.
2013 Double British Comedy Award winner Jack Whitehall came by the M Club to do a great set that was to form the basis of his 2009 show "Nearly Rebellious". A show which saw him nominated as Best Newcomer at The Fosters Fringe Comedy Awards. July 2009.
Jon Richardson came to the M Club in July 2009 - closing the show to an absolutely packed house. The M Club sold out every single one of it's comedy nights held there over the course of just over a year.
As part of our Edinburgh Nights series - Two acts on the same night honing the show they would be taking to Edinburgh Fringe that year - Rhod came along with "Rhod Gilbert and the Award Winning Mince Pie" in 2008. A show that was subsequently turned into Rhod's first DVD.