So, that Lone Star Comedy night is a bit good isn't it? This week's lineup of Richard Herring, Gary Delaney and Owen Niblock plus resident compere Danny James were fantastic. It was my first trip to Lanterns, but those stairs are worth climbing. It's a working man's club type layout, just right for comedy, easy to get to and from the bar during the sets without causing a disturbance.
One FREAKISH thing about that place is the fire escape at the back - the door was open and you get an amazing and unexpected view across Folkestone. Worth going just for that!
Owen Niblock did gentle and slightly surreal comedy, with songs on a stick dulcimer, you seen one of them before? No, me either. He reminded me a lot of my friend MJ Hibbett, though a bit more whimsical.
My fave joke of the evening was from Gary Delaney "Tiger Woods - that's no place for a picnic", after that the one liners got sharper and meaner, though he did crack up at his own stuff a few times...
Richard Herring was hilarious, though he seemed to cause quite a lot of offense. I'm putting that down to his cracks about catholic priests and paedophiles, either there were a few catholics in or I don't like to think about the alternative.
Compere Danny James (another friend! How popular am I?) strikes me as a brave man picking people out of a Folkestone audience like that, I really thought things might get nasty! It's not his fault, there were just some strange people on the front row, and some school children too, what's that all about? As he started to work his way through the crowd I wondered if we were far enough back to get away with things, luckily so... HE WAS FUNNY!
Got to get back to this venue next month, it was a great night out and is much recommended.
This is part of my site The FG that I built in a fury of excitement when we first moved here sometime in 2004. I'd been a frequent visitor for a while previous to that so I am technically one of those DFLs you get nowadays. The site was updated more frequently with a gig calendar and voting for favourite venues and stuff, and I hear it was a useful reference for others who were thinking of moving to the area. Now I've moved out of Folkestone again (though only to Hythe) it doesn't get as much attention as it used to. Ironic really as The town is now becoming the exciting place we always thought it was just about to. I am not Gerald BTW, this comes from a fake paper in an episode of Brasseye or something, the Portsmouth Gerald, and how there is a local newspaper here called the Folkestone Herald. Puns like this are great aren't they? Do contact me if you have anything to contribute, email anythign @ this domain, or try @folkestone or @pauly on Twitter.