Brennan Reece

Written by: Si Hawkins
Published: Friday 21st March 2025

It was the first of times, it was the worst of times.

This time we welcome Brennan Reece, the ever-amusing Mancunian who next weekend brings joy to a big rival city across the pennines - maybe this is the Mancs finally saying thanks for Eric Cantona? About time too. He's performing at the launch of Leeds' new Glee Club, which also features - on Saturday - Dylan Moran, Tom Davis and Michelle de Swarte. Quite a line-up.

The first weekend of a new club then, does it add a bit of extra excitement/pressure/crowdwork material?

"Any new club opening is exciting," Reece responds. "But when it is one by the Glee, you know it's going to be great. They run the best clubs for audiences and comedians - and then you chuck Yorkshire into the mix. It's going to be a belting night."

And after Gleeds? "Over the next few months I'm touring around the UK," says the comic, "with my show Me Me Me."

Let's see how he he he got started.

First gig?

My first gig was about 14 years ago, in the beautiful fishing village of Preston. I just wanted to try comedy once as a thing to tick off my bucket list. It was a busy audience, maybe 150... a lot for a first gig. And it was a show where if the new comedian wasn't funny, they got booted off the stage. Luckily, it went well and I wasn't kicked off.
 
Favourite show, ever?

Live At The Apollo. I think growing up and watching it on TV, to then getting the call that you are going to be on the biggest stand-up show in the UK, it meant everything. Add on top of that, all my family and friends were there to see it... that made it perfect!

Worst gig?

A few years into gigging I was booked to play a bikers rally. I turned up in my mum's lime green Fiat Panda, with a t-shirt with dogs in cowboy hats on it. I was so scared to play to 500 hairy bikers, I stood at the side watching comedian after comedian get booed off, and then it was my turn....and it turned into one of the funnest gigs I have ever done.

Which one person influenced your comedy life most significantly?

My mum I guess. She isn't the funniest person around, but she has done a lot of funny things and features in my comedy all the time. She hates it.

And who's the most disagreeable person you've come across in the business?

I gigged with a famous comedian a few years ago. He wasn't the nicest, and on the show he didn't do very well. The next day I was on the same train to London as him - I realised as we both got off the train, and I went over and said politely "Hey mate" and he said "Look if you want a picture, hurry up."

Is there one routine/gag you loved, that audiences inexplicably didn't?

I had a routine that I worked on for ages, it took me weeks to learn before I even tried it... and I tried it once, and the audience just stared at me. Looking back, the routine was awful, it was just me saying the words 'good' and 'bad' in different ways. I don't know what I was thinking.

When a new club opens, do you get asked for feedback - or keep it to yourself?

Oh, we as comedians keep it to ourselves... we want to get rebooked, remember.

Any reviews, heckles or post-gig reactions stick in the mind?

I had a review a few years ago from a failed comedian who then turned into a comedy reviewer. He was an aspiring comedian when I started, and his path just changed. But I do have a feeling he was bitter that I still do comedy, as he wrote "he is a tool that deserves to be lonely".

How do you feel about where your career is at, right now?

Not great, I'm having to do this interview aren't I? Only joking...

Brennan Reece performs at The Glee, Leeds on 28-29 March. glee.co.uk