Full time administrator and part time jewellery maker with a love of films, TV and music. 'Proud' ow...
Full time administrator and part time jewellery maker with a love of films, TV and music. 'Proud' owner of a cat and a husband. Feedback on my reviews always welcome or drop me a line in my guestbook. ♪♫
Member since:17.01.2005
Reviews:17
Members who trust:3
The Glee Club is situated in the centre of Birmingham's bustling city centre off Hurst Street in the Aracdian complex in the heart of Chinatown. Only five minutes from the train station (New Street) and about the same again from the majority of the bus stops.
It is seperated into two parts, downstairs is the the Lounge bar (which is always busy) and upstairs, the comedy club. The club itself is split into two, the Main room and the Studio.
The Studio is a 150-seat 'ampitheatre'-style room where you can get very close to the performers. The stage is a bit rickety, it's very dark, the bar staff rush to put your drinks orders together and it is unfortunately dominated by two pillars in the middle of the seating which can block your view if you get in late. Seating in the Studio is not allocated so get there early.
The Main Room serves food to your table, again there's a bar and it seats about 300-400 people. You can't really tell though, it's very dark. But that's not a bad thing. Seating in the Main Room is allocated and when you arrive you'll be shown to your table by a helpful member of staff. And trust me, you'll feel a little bit of dread when the hempful member of staff sits you on the front row right in front of the microphone.
The drinks are very reasonably priced (particularly when compared to other drinking establishments in the Arcadian) and out of politeness to the performers the bars in the Comedy club will not serve during the performances.
The range of acts is huge from home grown talents Ross Noble, Dave Spikey and Richard Herring to our friends from across the pond, Rich Hall, Mike Wilmot and Ed Byrne (OK, Ireland isn't really across the pond, but you have to travel over water to get there from Brum) as well as new talents and complete unknowns.
The thing I love about Glee is it's imtimacy. Having seen comedians at both the larger Birmingham Theatres (like the Hippodrome or the Alex) and then again at the Glee Club I have to say I prefer their Glee club acts.
There's a lot more interaction with the audience (for example Rich Hall arguing with a lad from Halesowen for five minutes or Ross Noble asking a woman sitting in front of him why her thumb was bandaged up).
But it's not just comedy. The Glee also offers Ceroc classes (apparently it's a type of french Jive) and live music from local bands and the next big thing.
The only disadvantages to the Glee Club are that if you're a tall chap (like my husband) you'll find the lack of leg-room a pain (literally), and it really isn't fun walking back down the stairs to the Longue bar after an evening drinking and laughing.
You can book tickets for both music and comedy gigs through their very detailed website and save money on the costs of the ticket too!
I recommend the Glee Club for a good night out. You may not like all the talent on offer but you're supporting comedians and that's a good thing!!
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