Monkey Barrel launches week-round Edinburgh venue

Edinburgh's Monkey Barrel Comedy has a new home, a venue on Blair Street.

With its official launch on Friday 2nd December, the club will now be the Scottish capital's second week-round comedy venue.

Monkey Barrel Comedy has been operating at the Beehive Inn on Grassmarket for the last five years, but has now taken the step up to having its own permanent venue in the heart of the city. Having bought up the lease of an old Victorian printers shop at 9 Blair Street (just off the Royal Mile), the Monkey Barrel team - comedians Ben Verth and Chris Griffin, writer and cartoonist John Millar, and comedy fan David Bleese - have transformed the shell into a two-level theatre, café and bar space, with a 100 capacity main room and an intimate 60 seater basement theatre, aka The Banana Skin.

Speaking to BCG, Verth says: "I'm so excited to be finally opening Monkey Barrel proper. I've always wanted to create my own club, inspired by places like Peter Cook's Establishment and The Comedy Store, but this became a reality because I met my business partner John Millar. I might have the contacts and the promoter know-how but he has the business sense and the cool head and the most intense and inspiring drive I've ever seen in anyone. We got on immediately and continue to because we both have a passion to create a unique club."

Monkey Barrel's week kicks off with The Weekend Starts Here, a 'no-holds-barred' Monday night alternative show. Tuesday it's "anything goes" with work-in-progress comedy lab Project X, while on Wednesday it's the new act competition Top Banana. Thursday is the club's 'Presents...' night, in which they welcome guest shows and tours. On Fridays and Saturdays the club offers up its flagship weekend multi-bill Big Show gigs, whilst Sundays is for rising star showcase Progress! and resident improv group To Be Continued.

Monkey Barrel will also be offering a range of comedy courses throughout the year, run by seasoned comedy veteran and one of the most in-demand stand-up acts in Scotland, Jojo Sutherland.

Verth says: "We're not just going to be night after night of stand-up, we want it to be a great home to sketch and improv and comedy theatre too. And for new media... we want it to be a studio for podcasting and online video content and production. Just a great house for ideas."

Although the club doesn't officially open until Friday, they've already been getting calls on their box office number... however, not everyone is after comedy! Ben explains: "We've found out that the landline number we'd been given by our phone provider was originally the phone number of a Sauna in Rose Street, and it is still listed as their number all over Google. So 50% of the time the phone goes it's people looking to book tickets, the other 50% it's seedy-sounding men asking if they can stop by to see Mei Ling (she must be the best one, she's the most popularly asked for), or asking if we can send her around 'with some oils' (an actual euphemism someone used).

"My favourite incident was when a someone rang up asking who was on that night and I said 'former Scottish Comedian of the Year Larry Dean, and we've got Michael Redmond and...' - properly selling the show - and the voice cut me short and said 'Big Jessica not working the night, naw?'"

For the latest line-ups and to book tickets visit monkeybarrelcomedy.com