'Laughter is a gut reaction'

Meet Don Ward, owner of the Comedy Store, London, the club that changed the face of British comedy forever


Yeah, yeah, you're pretty funny. But it's one thing to make some of your friends laugh at a party. It's a whole different ballgame to get on a stage in front of an audience and do stand-up comedy. To do any kind of live performance, you need to have a strong ego and nerves of steel. To do stand-up comedy, you need to be virtually insane, besides having the talent and the tenacity to go through it.

Don Ward, owner of the Comedy Store, London, perhaps had it all - after being a stand-up comedian for ten years, he stepped up to produce shows at his club. And now he is known as the proud producer of the club that changed the face of British comedy forever.

He was here in Dubai to celebrate The Laughter Factory's sixth birthday this month. "The occasion is not just an anniversary but a testimony to the high standard of comedians who not only work for the Comedy Store, but love performing in Dubai at The Laughter Factory as well," he said.

The Laughter Factory had invited three of the best UK comedians on the circuit today - Andre Vincent, Andy Parsons and Dara O' Brian - to be part of the celebrations.

Ward said: "With another three successful years, the Comedy Store, London, will complete 25 years in the business." Proof, indeed, that Ward is a good businessman.

He realised that The Store had to move with the times, otherwise it would have gone bust years ago, and those acts would have one less place to go. Ward believed: "To keep the paying punters coming through the door, you need lots of laughs. And laughter, unlike applause, is a gut reaction. It is involuntary and amoral."

Press quotes name him not only as a fine entrepreneur, but "arguably the finest scout of new comic talent in Britain", and one of Ward's finest skills is that he lets new comics come to him.
"This is where and how I first started 23 years back", he recalled. "Inspired by a trip to see comedy clubs in the U.S., I wanted to re-create the same success in London."

Advertisements were placed in The Stage, Punch and the Evening Standard for 'would-be comedians' and anyone who 'phoned or turned up' was allowed to perform on stage (for as long as the audience allowed). Acts were introduced by a compere who, guided by the audience's reaction, used a gong to let comedians know when it was time for them to step aside and make room for the next act.

"In the new, more politically-aware environment of the early 1980s, comics with racist, sexist and outdated jokes were often gonged or booed off quickly, making room for performers of the new 'alternative' genre, whose material was considered fresher and more innovative. These performers became the first alternative comedians; Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmonson, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith Allen, Peter Richardson and Arnold Brown all graced the Comedy Store stage in the early days. Robin Williams would also drop in unannounced to go on stage for a few minutes, but end up performing for an hour."

And from there Ward progressed, with his clubs from London to Manchester and, by 2003, to Leeds. The Comedy Store became the first and is still the only full-time Comedy venue in the UK, offering stand-up comedy, improvisation (through acts played by Comedy Store players) and, from 1990, the best in topical satire when the 'Cutting Edge' team was formed.

"Above all it's the punters who've changed," said Ward. "In the 1980s, stand-up was a recessionary art form, a cheerful protest and a cheap night out. In the 90's, it became an aspirational leisure activity."

Believers in stand-up comedy advocate it as one of the best art forms as it has, since inception, retained its capacity to surprise and shall always retain its immediacy. "Little tingles go down the back of your spine," agreed Ward, describing the thrill of seeing a worldwide star like Lee Evans take the club by storm. From a five hundred pound hobby, the club today is a multi-million pound business.

The Store is also working with Berlin's Club 'Quatsch' (German for funny) to export British-style stand-up to Germany. Ward said: "The German audience's command of English is astounding. They like exactly the same sort of comedy as we do - but the comics we send have to have clear diction, and no regional accents."

The Comedy Store has been involved in joint ventures in Germany before, but nothing on this scale.

Yet another felicitation come Ward's way is the book recently published by Little, Brown and Company The Comedy Store by William Cook. The book is a unique insight into the world of the modern British stand-up. What's it like to 'die' on stage? How does it feel to do your very first open spot? What's it like back-stage? What makes a great compere? And lots more.

In William Cook's words, the Store is indubitably "Comedy's Unofficial National Theatre".

Ward looked forward to involving himself into franchising and said he was planning to produce a documentary on the club - Comedy Store - at its 25th anniversary in another three years. He concluded: "Although most of the raw energy of the early days of the Comedy Store has gone, the effects of its opening in 1979 have been considerable. It has achieved something useful in the way of propping up British comedy, which could have easily died out." Nevertheless, predicted Ward: "The live comedy bubble will burst soon, but the Stores will survive due to their unpredictability."