Shoreham comedy night in aid of children caught up in war

A special comedy night in Shoreham this January in aid of War Child will lay the groundwork for the launch of the Ropetackle Comedy Club this summer.

Transcript

00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers, really lovely

00:06to speak to Tom Beard, who is the mastermind of Pento at the Rope Tackle in Shoreham and

00:10has been for 13 years now. But Tom, you're going in a slightly different direction this

00:15time with a comedy night, and it's Thursday January 23rd, Dawes 7pm show, 8pm at the Rope

00:23Tackle in Shoreham, and it's a comedy night with a serious underlying motive, isn't it?

00:30What's it all about?

00:31Yeah, absolutely. We've, we're doing it in support of War Child, which have a winter

00:35appeal going at the moment that help many of the one in five children across the world

00:41who are currently suffering in war zones. So it helps support them, it helps educate

00:45them, it just tries to give them a safe haven. And generally, just make the world a better

00:51place for them. Because some of them are literally living in hell. And when you hear some

00:56of the harrowing stories about that, it's inspired myself and other people at the Rope

01:01Tackle to put on an event. And we've chosen a better way than a comedy night to try and

01:06get people along. And some great acts lined up as well.

01:10Goodness, and specifically, it's inspired by the awful things that are happening in

01:13Gaza. But it's obviously a much more general perspective, isn't it, with War Child?

01:18Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It goes to Lebanon, all across the Middle East, wherever there's

01:25trouble across Africa, you know, it doesn't really take sides, it just looks at where

01:31there is help necessary and goes to those zones and works with people like UNICEF, who

01:37do some great work and they support them. So yeah, it's a really good charity.

01:41And the really exciting thing is this, this one night coming up in January is going to

01:45have its own offspring come June. This is the trailer for the Rope Tackle comedy.

01:52Yeah, well, we've been, yeah, I've been very lucky. I've been asked by the Rope Tackle

01:57to set up their own in-house comedy night, which is going to be every third Thursday

02:03from June. And that's our catchphrase. Yeah, every third Thursday. From June, yeah. And

02:09it's my honour to go around the comedy clubs to try and find acts that I know will work

02:15at the Rope Tackle, having done the pantomime there for the last 13 years or so.

02:20I've kind of got to know what people like, I think. So as well as having some great

02:26headliners who have one-off nights, we're also going to build up this fine reputation

02:31for having the best comedians on the circuit connoisseurs as well. And having been a

02:36comedian myself for the last 20 years, I think I can pull in some favours and get some

02:40great acts there. All starting on the 23rd of January, where we headline with Robin

02:45We've got Pat Monaghan, Sajid Akershi, Ivor Dembina, and it's going to be hosted by a chap

02:51called Jezzo, who is a comedy magician who I know the people at the Rope Tackle are going

02:57to absolutely love. So we're all very excited. It sounds a brilliant way to start the new

03:01year. Really great to speak to you. Thank you very much indeed. Thanks, Phil.