As well as running successful comedy nights in various towns and cities across the region and beyond, the team at Big Deal Comedy is also collaborating with Commoners’ Comedy for this year’s Cambridge Fringe Festival.
Run by Leanne Clarke and her brother, stand-up comedian Jason Stampe – hailed as “a cornerstone of East Anglia’s comedy circuit" by the Eastern Daily Press – Big Deal Comedy puts on a comedy night every other Friday upstairs at popular Cambridge venue Town and Gown.
And it was here where I sat down with Leanne, ahead of a very enjoyable evening of comedy headlined by the manically brilliant Australian comic John Robertson, to put some questions to her.
How did Big Deal Comedy start?
So myself and my brother Jason were having a conversation one day. At the time he’d been on a bit of a hiatus with gigging and he was feeling a bit despondent about the lack of shows in the area.
I’d previously put on different events and things like that, so it started off as a conversation of “Let’s just put one on ourselves”.
We started off with one show in Cambourne, where we were both living at the time. It was in a little cricket pavilion, a 60-seater, and it sold out.
We had such a good time that we thought “What’s the harm in putting on another?” And then it just kind of steamrolled from there.
We both just really love comedy – the added bonus for me is I get to stand there and watch all these great acts!
How long had your brother Jason been a comedian before the two of you set up Big Deal Comedy?
At that point, I think he’d been gigging for probably about 12 years. Now he’s into his 16th, 17th year of gigging so he’s been on the circuit for quite a while.
Which have been some of the most memorable comedy nights that you’ve hosted?
One of our biggest ones, going back to when we started in Cambourne, we did an event at the Cambourne Community Centre, which is a 300-seater, so we brought Reginald D Hunter in.
He’s such an incredible act and we sold out. It was absolutely packed to the rafters and that was probably one of the most memorable nights ever.
It was really cool bringing a really big act to quite a small town, as a bit of a thank you for hosting us for so many years.
And I think Town and Gown is also one of our most memorable ones, just because we started here just after Covid…
We’ve been through all the different iterations, all of the social distancing, needing masks, lower seating amount, things like that – and now we’re fortnightly, so we always say this is the ‘jewel in the crown’ as such.
How many places now play host to Big Deal Comedy nights?
We’re in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, we’re in the Midlands now as well, we’re in Hertfordshire – so over 10 venues consistently.
Have you ever had any problems with hecklers?
Touch wood, over the years we’ve only really had one or two hecklers that kind of just breached the line of not being funny anymore, and they’ve been in good venues where we’ve had good security on board so we can very quickly get them out of the room.
But it’s either myself or Jason that are working the gig so we can kind of spot the person that’s going to be the troublemaker from the start.
It’s always a bit of a fun game to spot the heckler. And normally the MC is pretty skilled at putting them in their place quickly, and most hecklers will say the one thing and then they’ll back away and they’ll understand that they need to behave themselves.
Which comics are on your radar for future Big Deal Comedy events?
We’ve had some really good names… I think I’d quite like to get Seann Walsh again. I think it was last year that we had him and he was just about to get big again – he’s really fun.
We’ve also recently worked with Gary Delaney, he’s incredible – we’re trying to book him for another venue at the moment.
And then more down to the circuit-level comedians, people like Jenny Collier are also really great, she’s so much fun, Esther Manito and Bobby Mair and these kind of names…
We work with them regularly but it’s always really exciting when you go “Ah yes, we’ve got them booked!”
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I think it’s just the fact that I get to watch really good comedy; there’s not many jobs that you can just laugh your whole evening away.
Obviously there are the stresses of the marketing and things like that alongside it, but actually on the night it’s such a great experience to just come in and laugh. It’s therapeutic!
What do you make of the current UK comedy scene in general?
I would say from Covid, it’s now absolutely booming. There are comedy clubs popping up everywhere, which is great to see because it just shows that the appetite for comedy is booming.
Certainly here, Town and Gown is fortnightly now and it’s very rarely not sold out – and every single venue that we have is selling really well.
How did you come to work with Commoners’ Comedy on the upcoming Cambridge Fringe Festival?
We know Ali Warwood who runs Commoners’ and we’d been having conversations over the years whenever they were doing the Fringe that it would be quite a cool idea to join forces, because us and Commoners’ we don’t act like rivals.
If we’ve got dates on the same night, for example, we’ll try and double up the acts so that we both get a decent act on the bill.
We’re quite friendly with her and we had this conversation of joining forces and they liked the idea and the dates aligned this year and it worked well, so we’re really excited to join up with them.
[Read more: *[*Eleanor Conway and Bobby Mair set to headline this year’s Cambridge Fringe Festival*](https://premium.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/whats-on/eleanor-conway-and-bobby-mair-set-to-headline-this-year-s-ca-9351890/), , Big Deal Comedy to host charity fundraiser for the Cambridge Women's Resources Centre, Big Deal Comedy to run two monthly shows at Town and Gown in Cambridge] *
The next Big Deal Comedy night at Town and Gown in Cambridge is on Friday, 10 May, with Christian Reilly headlining. Tickets, priced £16 (plus booking fee), are available from bigdealcomedy.co.uk. For more on the Cambridge Fringe Festival, visit facebook.com/FringeCambridge.
