University of Sussex Students' Newspaper

Stand-up for comedy: a Brighton Dome experience

Ilinca Nanu

ByIlinca Nanu

Feb 27, 2019

If you happen to be like me, a creature of comfort that enjoys the company of a good book or would rather develop an emotional attachment with Netflix specials rather than with real people, then you probably don’t like “going out” by the general understanding of going out. However, there’s only so much Netflix can do for you before you run out of options, you sink into the quarter life despair (or literally into the couch) and you find yourself longing for an actual experience. Something fun. Outside of the house.

The other day I asked myself: “Why didn’t I do this before?” after going to my first ever stand-up comedy show. And as an avid fan of the comedic genre in basically everything that could exist on a computer screen, I was pleasantly surprised. I now believe that to see stand-up live is better than anything else for the following reasons:

  1. You get the little positive nerves of just having to go somewhere you’ve never been before and being part of the show – because if you ask me, you have as much power as an audience member as the person on the stage. The relationship between the  comedian and the audience is a mutual win-win situation.
  2. You realise that it’s much better to see how many people are having the same reaction of amusement to the show, how many people you can relate to through this one funny experience that the person on stage is reenacting.
  3. You get amused by somebody who’s job or hobby is to be entertaining. I don’t think a conversation could go better than that. Plus you get to laugh far away from your screen and that doomed dent we all have in our beds.

The show I went to is called Live at Brighton Dome and it consists of five acts, that in a limited time, succeeded spectacularly in winning the audience’s smiles. I liked the format of the show because it was a chance to see the people I knew I enjoyed watching while it was also a platform to discover new comedians. Suzi Ruffell, Jamali Maddix, Phil Wang, Ivo Graham and Mo Gilligan created an amazing, multicultural and witty show filled with a variety of experiences that every audience member could relate to. There was no joke that escaped without a considerable amount of laughs.

The Dome is organising a show with the same format on the 8th of March, celebrating International Women’s Day by creating an amazing all women line-up featuring Sara Pascoe, Felicity Ward, Sara Barron, Lolly Adefope and Josie Long. If your mum is in town, if you support badass funny ladies, want to try out something new or if you just feel like it, come along to the show and meanwhile check out the other stand-up comedy acts that this beautiful city of Brighton has for you.

For tickets and more information about the following show be sure to check Brighton Dome’s page at:

https://brightondome.org/event/22130/live_at_brighton_dome/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA2L7jBRCBARIsAPeAsaP18Z0hz0i0GjFZuOkV1gYnCu3-y38M5Ohsx9oUF-AcB2Lyv2tmW3saAuCaEALw_wcB

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