Self-Explanatory Name, Surprisingly Complicated Laughs
The Stand-Up Club, Soho is the most accurately named venue in London comedy. It is in Soho. There is standing up. There is a club. Nobody has come up with a more economical description of what happens there, and the 238 reviews at 4.8 stars suggest that the transparency of the branding extends to the product itself you know exactly what you are getting, and what you are getting is, by near-universal agreement, very good.
The Virtue of Clarity
In a world of comedy venues named after animals, celestial bodies, geographical features, and vaguely threatening phrases, there is something almost radical about calling your venue The Stand-Up Club. It refuses to promise an experience. It refuses to create an atmosphere before you have even walked through the door. It simply states the facts stand-up, club, Soho and trusts that the product will do the work. Given the rating, the product is doing the work.
This clarity of purpose extends to the programming. The Stand-Up Club books experienced circuit acts, runs the show in the established format, and does not attempt to innovate around the edges of what stand-up comedy is. This is not a venue that is trying to be anything other than a very good comedy club in one of the best possible locations for a comedy club. The ambition is focused entirely on execution rather than concept, and the reviews suggest that the execution is consistently strong.
The Soho Context
Operating in Soho means operating in the most competitive comedy market in the world. Within a five-minute walk of The Stand-Up Club, you can find the Comedy Store, the JK Comedy Club, the Soho Comedy Factory, the Soho Comedy Cellar, the Soho Comedy House, the Rum Monkey, and more venues than any reasonable person can visit in a single evening. The Stand-Up Club’s ability to maintain a 4.8-star rating in this environment is a testament to genuine quality the Soho audience is experienced enough to know the difference between a good night and a great one, and it is voting consistently in favour of this venue.
Audience and Atmosphere
The Stand-Up Club draws the mixed Soho audience tourists, office workers, comedy regulars, people on dates who chose comedy over dinner and are now wondering if it was a mistake and discovering that it absolutely was not. The room is configured to create the intimacy that stand-up requires, and the atmosphere before the show has the particular quality of an audience that knows it is in a good venue and is looking forward to being proved right.
The Verdict
The Stand-Up Club, Soho is exactly what it says it is, done excellently. Four-point-eight stars across 238 reviews confirms that clarity of purpose, when executed with consistent quality, is an entirely viable business model in the most competitive comedy district on earth. Recommended without reservation.
Auf Wiedersehen, amigo!
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: editor@prat.uk
