COMEDY promoter Toby Clouston-Jones has a tip for the top, one who just happens to be playing on his Edinburgh Preview double bill at the Hyena Lounge Comedy Club in York on Sunday.
“The phrase ‘next big thing’ is used a lot in the comedy industry, often by ourselves when talking about an act that we genuinely feel fits the billing,” says Toby.
“More often than not, we get it bang on with the likes of Russell Howard, Rhod Gilbert, John Bishop and Sarah Millican having all played the Hyena Lounge numerous times on their way to fame and fortune.
“Our current hot tip is Chris Ramsey, who has experienced a meteoric rise to the top of the comedy circuit since being a finalist in the Chortle Student Comedy Awards and the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year competition in 2009. He’s just recorded a new series, Show & Tell, for E4 with Chris Addison and has a sitcom in development with Channel 4.”
Having made his Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2009 in the Comedy Zone at the Pleasance, Ramsey returned there last summer with Chris Ramsey: Aggrophobic. Now he is knocking the rough edges off his 2011 show, Offermation, playing the Basement at City Screen, York, en route to Scotland.
Offermation details Ramsey’s amazement at an annual round-robin letter from unknown family members. “Why is it that this unrequested information is poured on to my doormat every year?” he asks.
Find out on Sunday when he shares the 7.30pm bill with Jason Cook. “Behind his cheerful Geordie exterior lurks a dark, sharp comedic mind capable of taking an unsuspecting audience to places they didn’t want to go,” says Toby.
“Jason has a way of presenting true-to-life stories that drag you in and won’t let go, close to the edge but always intriguing and blessed with the sort of charm that’ll have you laughing in spite of yourself.”
After Joy in 2008, Fear in 2009 and The End – Part One last summer, his latest bout of total honesty is entitled The Search For Happiness, an adventure in pursuit of the ultimate prize: a Cook’s true happiness.
Doors open at 7pm; tickets cost £8 on 0871 902 5726 or online at thebasementyork.co.uk
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