C PEOPLE LTD  seriously funny business!
                                                                       

Our Live Shows on the London fringe & Edinburgh Fringe Festival:

1991 -1996 
Monday, Bloody Monday * The Comedy Factory * Strictly Bathroom * Waiting For The Ugly Bus * Comedy Factory's Ultimate Comedy Quiz



2000 -2003
Kissing the Kebab * Sketch Club * Bite The Wax Tadpole



2006
Club De Cabaret

Recordings

1994   Eat My Bus, a collection of original and very rude songs

review from
THREE WEEKS MAGAZINE

"Holy Bollocks of God, is this a fantastic show! Right up my street from beginning to end. There are pirates, villains, show-girls and musicians, so you’ve no time to get bored with this original comic masterpiece!

No matter what your taste in humour, this is your favourite flavour. With their multitude of sketches, each as funny as the next, the skill and versatility of each member is refreshing to see.

They’re all having such a good time, and it rubs off like a charm. The energy bouncing off each cast member is electrifying, and leaves the room buzzing for more. Genius, pure genius!" Rating: * * * *

	the Elephant Man invites you to watch his new exercise video (1' 17") elephant man 2.12Meg		neville chamberlain gets his 'second chance' to avoid world war two (33") second chance 950KB
	the Bronte sisters start a massive family argument (31") brontes 884KB		a new version of Tolkein's Lord of the Rings!  Oh no! (52") lord rings 1.43Meg
	a very sad man claims to have invented a time machine  (32") time machine 922KB		Scampy and April talk complete and utter nonsense (45") large 1.21Meg
	Julian MacKenzie attempts to explain the history of art  (26") art 770KB		April and Scampy talk even more rubbish and discuss weird names (40") weird names 1.15Meg

Live shows, 1992 - 2006

Comedy People's live comedy production kicked off in the autumn of 1991 with a season of original sketch comedy shows presented Downstairs at the King's Head, a popular comedy venue in north London. Under the brand name Comedy Factory, the cast featured Andrew Barclay, Steve Ansell and Rosie Cavaliero, with Gemma Eddington directing. The material was provided by Andrew along with Brian West, Pete Hiom, Simon Gibson, Sweyn Martin, Keith Wickham and  Max Fisher.

Because we didn't have much material back then, the first half of the evening was filled with an improv group called Spontaneous Combustion, as well as with a number of guest acts. Most notable of whom was probably the infamous Rapping Rabbi...

By the following summer, we felt we had enough material to present an hour-long show, and so set off for the Pleasance theatre at the 1992 Edinburgh Festival. The line-up had changed with Andrew, Brian, Pete, Simon and Keith plus newcomer Jim Creighton all writing and performing, with Sweyn still writing and Andrew directing. Departures: Gemma, Rosie, Steve and Max. Our first review  was extremely encouraging, and our Edinburgh experience a very good one.

The same line-up appeared at Edinburgh the following year, with another appearance at the Pleasance, with Sweyn retiring from writing. A great review in the papers did much to build our houses for a second, successful Fringe Festival.

Edinburgh 1994 - now at the Gilded Balloon - saw the departure of Jim, plus the unscheduled departure of Simon (even though his face remained on the 'Ugly Bus' poster). We were now a four-man show instead of six. Pride always coming before a fall, we suffered a truly terrible review which upset everyone.

In fact, it upset everyone so much, that half of the team departed from the show. Edinburgh 1995 (Gilded Balloon again) saw the departure of Pete and Keith, and the arrival of three new performers - Ian Angus Wilkie, Leigh MacDonald and Nick Cox. Although fun, this was to be the last Edinburgh show under the 'Comedy Factory' brand, and heralded a break of several years before another return north of the border.

In 2001, Andrew and Brian launched 'Kissing the Kebab', a new, weekly show Downstairs at the Kings Head again. This production featured two teams of sketch performers alternating weekly. In one team were Tom Price, Ciaran Murtagh, Jackie Stirling and Gemma Rigg, and in the other Maggie Gordon-Walker, Tom Barnes, Nicky Blackwell and Charles Farrier. Contributing as a writer was Stephen Dinsdale. Brian directed one team, while the others directed themselves.

After the first season, it was decided that the 'alternate' system was not particularly successful, so it was decided to present a weekly show with one cast. Out went the 'Kebab' brand, and in came a new title and new style - a retro 'cabaret' show called 'Sketch Club'. Departures:  Tom, Ciaran, Gemma, Nicky and Charles. Back came Andrew and Brian, plus a return by Ian Angus Wilkie. Brand new arrivals: Bob Karper, Sally Elsden and Stacey Smith, with direction by Andrew again.

The show ran for much of 2002 with this line-up, with the eventual departure of Ian, and the arrival of Anne-Marie Draycott. Temporary stand-ins included Alex Woodhall and Clive Greenwood.

Sketch Club appeared at the Gilded Balloon Caves in August 2002, featuring all nine performers - probably the largest sketch cast at the Festival. Despite achieving disappointingly small houses, the show received a number of fabulous reviews, recapturing some of the excitement from nearly a decade earlier.

In the autumn, the show started again at the King's Head. Departures: Jackie Stirling. Arrivals: Jamie Neil. the show then ran weekly as a nine-hander until the following spring, when it was all change again..

Brian departed and the  show was re-christened Bite The Wax Tadpole and took up residence at a pub in Soho. Wanda Opalinska joined the cast.

Still with a 9-strong cast, the last sell-out show took place in June 2003, after which the decision was made to take another break...

..Until the autumn of 2005 when Sally and Stacey decided it would be a good idea to put on a bigger, brighter, all-singing, all-dancing version of the show. With another name change - this time to Club De Cabaret -the much-enlarged production featured a live band and a chorus of showgirls. Joining Sally and Stacey from the previous productions were Andrew and Jamie, plus a host of new faces - Odile Rault, Nicky Hughes, Anne-Lise Froy, Kirsty Borras, Nick Searle and Alan Vickers, plus music from Bryan Smith, Tom Bagge and Sav Gatta. With thirteen performers on stage, this was the biggest production yet.

The show premiered in St Albans, Herts, in February 2006, with three sell-out performances. Plans are currently in place to take the show on tour. Watch this space...

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SKETCH ARCHIVE

The sketches in this archive may be downloaded and performed free of charge by amateur groups (such as schools, clubs, amateur dramatic societies, etc). All we ask is that you drop us an email to tell us which sketches you want to use, and where you'll be using them. We would also like a credit for 'Comedy People Ltd', where appropriate. Professional companies and organisations, please contact us for more information about the sketches in the archive, or with any enquiries about new and specially-written material. We'll be happy to help.

allergy sketch
army sketch
bad news sketch
bank sketch (a bit rude!)
baywatch sketch
bereavement sketch
birth sketch
cia sketch
clown sketch
community soldier sketch
criminal sketch
executive sketch
flying sketch
garden party sketch
good cop sketch
grief encounter sketch
guides sketch
identity parade sketch
jazz sketch
lottery sketch
mafia sketch
mafia 2 sketch
midwife sketch
nice news sketch
opera house sketch
pet hates sketch
photographer sketch
police sketch
salesman sketch
sixties (longer item)
spider sketch
surgeons (longer item)
tennis sketch
vietnam sketch

comedy handbook

Alphabetical list of all the talented sketch performers who've been associated with our live shows:

1.  Steve Ansell
2.  Tom Bagge
3.   Andrew Barclay
3.   Tom Barnes
4.   Nicky Blackwell
5.   Kirsty Borras
6.   Rosie Cavaliero
7.   Nick Cox
8.   Jim Creighton
9.   Anne-Marie Draycott
10. Sally Elsden
11. Charles Farrier
12. Anne-Lise Froy
13. Sav Gatta
14. Simon Gibson
15. Maggie Gordon-Walker
16. Clive Greenwood
17. Pete Hiom
18. Nicky Hughes
19. Bob Karper
20. Leigh MacDonald
21. Ciaran Murtagh
22. Jamie Neil
23. Wanda Opalinska
24. Tom Price
25. Odile Rault
26. Gemma Rigg
27. Nick Searle
28. Bryan Smith
29. Stacey Smith
30. Jackie Stirling
31. Alan Vickers
32. Brain West
33. Keith Wickham
34. Ian Angus Wilkie
35. Alex Woodhall

review from THE STAGE

"This total experience sketch show is a tail-shaking, lipstick, powder and paint affair. Kicking off with an exotic fan dance, it must have caused a run on feather and sequin stocks nation-wide.

The large cast create a lot of noise with their rollicking humour and song routines. The show features characters ranging from a saturnine compère named Dino Martino to Count Dracula with haemorrhoids.

The performers take evident pleasure in their act, especially the cheekily grinning, Buddy Holly-lookalike keyboardist."