After almost 5,000 people voted in a free vote, with no nominees to pick from, we’re incredibly excited to announce that Komedia came out top in the Chortle Awards last week! Thanks so much to everyone who voted, winning an award like this is a real boost to an independent, grassroots venue like ours.
Comic Boom comedy club, in association with Jill Edwards Comedy Workshops, scooped Best Open Spot Comedy Night (The South & East), the show also won the award in 2024. Designed as a platform for only the most exciting and original new rising comedy stars, Comic Boom comedy club features an established headline comic from the comedy circuit, Jill Edwards’ hand-picked selection of fresh rising comedy stars and one of the regular top MC’s Esther Manito, Mike Cox, Paul F Taylor or Barry Ferns. You can catch the show on the last Thursday of every month so don’t miss it!
We’re in good company, other regional winners of the ‘Best Comedy Venue’ title include The Bill Murray (London), Birmingham Glee (Midlands), Cardiff Glee (Wales and the West), Frog & Bucket Manchester (The North), and Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh (Scotland).
Our General Manager Jamie Patterson had this to say about our win:
“We’re so happy to have won this year’s Best Venue award – as a long-standing independent venue we’re never complacent and always trying to keep the comedy fresh and exciting. We think the night out that we offer is still one of the best ways you can spend an evening, and we’re so glad that you all think so too!”
The win marks our 20th (!) Chortle award win since the awards began in 2002. This includes 17 wins for Best Venue/Best Comedy Venue as well as awards for our various, excellent in-house comedy shows including Bent Double and Down the Hatch.
Did you know, we started out from humble beginnings at a former billiard hall in Kemptown in 1994? Komedia was born from the minds of the directors of ‘Umbrella Theatre’, Colin Granger, Marina Kobler, and David Lavender who modelled our venue on the cabaret theatres they had seen while touring in cities such as Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Berlin.
Our first season saw many brilliant talents hit the stage for the first time, including the likes of Graham Norton, Al Murray, Mel and Sue, Sean Lock, Mel & Sue, Armstrong & Miller, The League of Gentlemen and Omid Djalili.
We soon outgrew Manchester Street and moved to our current home (a former Tesco) on Gardner Street in 1998.
We’re proud to have attracted a variety of established and up-and-coming acts over the years, often helping launch new talent. Comedy acts to have passed through the venue include Stewart Lee, Ross Noble, Alan Carr, Harry Hill, The Mighty Boosh, Johnny Vegas, Sindhu Vee, Russell Howard, John Bishop, Lee Mack, Jimmy Carr, Michael Mcintyre, Micky Flanagan, Rob Beckett, Alex Horne, Rob Delaney, Eddie Izzard, Greg Davies, Flight of the Conchords, Jack Whitehall, Dara O’Briain, Sarah Millican, Bridget Christie, Armando Ianucci, Zoe Lyons, Maisie Adams and Jen Brister.
To help us continue to showcase the best in live comedy as well as support up-and-coming acts, head down to our venue to enjoy one of over 700 events a year.
Upcoming comedy highlights include our weekly night of cutting-edge comedy Komedia Comedy Club every Friday and Saturday, as well as shows from Abi Clarke, Nish Kumar, Horatio Gould, Scummy Mummies, Chloe Petts, Jazz Emu, He Huang, Josh Baulf, Mark Watson, Stephen Bailey, John Robertson, Stephen K Amos and more!
Check out our What’s On page HERE.
