Fond farewell to popular Harborough comedy evenings

A summertime-Christmas concert helped draw the curtain on a popular series of comedy nights at Robert Smyth Academy.
Performers on stage at the Robert Smyth comedy eveningPerformers on stage at the Robert Smyth comedy evening
Performers on stage at the Robert Smyth comedy evening

Organiser Chris Wells has been hosting the events for four years but the event on June 25 will be the last.

He said: “The final Comedy Club evening ended with everybody singing Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody under an impressive array of Christmas lights.

“It had been my dream to hold a Christmas concert in the middle of June for many years just to see everyone’s face.”

Chris is also the president of Market Harborough Rotaract and the evening saw £666 raised for a number of good causes including helping Comedy Club alumni and former Robert Smyth student Anthony Pollard achieve his dream of attending the National Youth Theatre.

Chris added; “The night was jam packed full of young, aged 16 to 20, stand-up comedians talking about everything from the use of language in modern society, the EU and an unputdownable book on Anti-Gravity.

“There was a load of outstanding improv comedy, one of which ended in Anthony Pollard having his head shaved by an Icelandic barber with a taste for heads.”

The evening also saw Anthony perform a monologue from the unfinished Shakespeare play Sir Thomas More and former students Ryan Auld (16) and Reuben Wisner (20) entertained the crowd with music.

Chris added: “I can’t describe how amazing the evening was. Every act was just so spot on perfect it was unreal. All the pieces seemed to fit together forming something far greater than the sum of its parts. Not just on stage, but backstage too, I cannot thank enough every single person who put in their own time and effort to make one of the best nights of my life.”