All Aboard For Balham Transcentral

I Love some of the gigs I do. Aside from comedy I'm doing three regular quiz nights a week but it's the one I've been doing the longest which is probably my favourite. The Balham Bowls Club in er... Balham reminds me of one of those funky little back street pubs in Melbourne. An eclectic decor, even more eclectic clientele, a monthly retro market and comedy on the first Thursday of each month. They even featured in Easyjet's inflight magazine a couple of months ago.  This is no mean feat given they only feature one venue from destination cities each edition. So the BBC represented London, and proudly once they finally found out about it.

Bowled Over Comedy @balhambowls

 Comedy comes courtesy of Comedy Dave from Bowled Over Comedy. What originally began as a traditional stand up night with a bunch of open slots with one or two more established acts has evolved into a staple on the improvisational circuit. So much so that the last one they hosted featured Tim Brooke-Taylor regaling the audience with life stories while impro regulars The Wilmington Players acted out his tales.

This tends to set the BBC apart from strong local nights such as the justifiably famous Bedford and the always improving Rise of The Idiots - Dara O'Briain was a recent performer - at the Exhibit. A crowded market may appear to be the perfect thing for punters but can rapidly saturate an area so all three venues are to be congratulated on providing continually original nights.

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The Devonshire on Balham High Road is also worthy of a mention with their weekly Sunday evening open nights that feature everything from acoustic sets, comedy, burlesque, story telling and improv to, well, basically whatever you fancy bringing to the stage. It's anarchic and well worth a visit, particularly if you fancy trying something new in front of a supportive crowd.

All In all there doesn't seem to be a dull night in Balham so if you're not familiar with what used to be an extension of stab city that spread as far south as Streatham you could do worse than check it out.

All venues are approachable but do book up in advance quite quickly. This is particularly true of the Bedford which is probably best for more established acts, but if you do manage to get a couple of minutes on the Shakespearian like downstairs stage it's certainly memorable.

For Bowled Over at the BBC contact Dave at bowledovercomedy@gmail.com And for The Exhibit, Anthony at exhibit@exhibitbars.com

If I've missed any notable comedic Balhamites out, apologies and drop me a line. I'll make sure to give you a mention in my next update.