About Us
ABOUT AMUSED MOOSE COMEDY SHOWS
(Show details and how to book tickets are on our Shows page)
We're thrilled that our audiences and the comedians who stand on our stage have voted for Amused Moose Soho, making it the winner of the "Best Small Comedy Club in London" award three times! Thank you so much to everyone for supporting us yet again by being enthusiastic about the best of live comedy at Amused Moose Soho and at Amused Moose Kings Cross too.
Recommended by TimeOut, and featured as "Time Out Critic's Choice of the Best In Town" and "Top Budget Entertainment" (ed 1626), with the added comment that Amused Moose Soho is an "IN" comedy venue featuring "superb Moose bills".
Amused Moose comedy clubs host really good comedy. Great places to see the hottest acts on the comedy circuit, the best of breaking talent and household name comedians doing "secret gigs". We're in the throbbing heart of Soho and in an iconic venue near Kings Cross on "going out" nights; both are really nice destinations and have great bars and pre-show dining. What could be better!
The clubs were founded by Hils Jago, initially with the aim of discovering new talent including Jimmy Carr, Sarah Millican, Nina Conti, Jack Whitehall, Alex Zane, Greg Davies, Romesh Ranganathan and Josh Widdicombe amongst others, and was the first venue to produce a season of Edinburgh Fringe preview shows, initially above pubs in Camden and Soho, and then below a gay bar in Soho. These quickly gained a great reputation among audiences, comedians and the industry, so we moved to bigger premises but retained the friendly atmosphere, good facilities, central location, excellent booking policy and a reputation for continually nurturing brilliant new comedians.
Great acts perform at Amused Moose including awardwinners and stadium fillers Eddie Izzard, Sarah Millican, Lee Mack, Bill Bailey, Ricky Gervais, Jack Whitehall, Stephen Merchant, Al Murray, Greg Davies, Noel Fielding, Nina Conti, Stewart Lee, Adam Hills, Frank Skinner and many more. A while back Frank gave us a huge toy Moose, carrying the message "I like your club, Frank x" to mark the end of his series of television runthroughs at Amused Moose Soho.
And it is just as surprising who turns up in our audiences - most recently we spotted Paloma Faith, but also Cate Blanchett and Ricky Gervais plus Noel Fielding's mum and dad for example, so you never quite know who you'll be rubbing shoulders with. Indeed the Moose Crew who help run our comedy shows have included Rhod Gilbert, Holly Walsh and Jimmy Carr, and most recently Nick Helm and Rob Beckett!
Once comedians get a big fanbase, doing comedy circuit gigs can be tricky, so Amused Moose Soho has become a "secret gig" comedy venue. Usually hardly anyone knows in advance who a "secret guest" will be, because the intention is for them to practise a routine for television or an big live show, in front of friendly non-partisan comedy audience. So if you want to be sure to find out when we'll have a 'secret guest' on stage and can trust us that the secret guest will be a huge surprise, subscribe to our e-mailing list on our Subscribe page. Sometimes the only chance of getting tickets is by responding very quickly to one of our e-mailings, as those will testify who managed to get some of the 120 tickets to see Eddie Izzard at Amused Moose Soho when be ran through his material for a major televised Charity show.
All our venues are airconditioned with good facilities, offering a range of beers (including at least one real ale, bottled and/or on tap) plus a wide choice of wines and champagne. There's always a good menu with vegetarian options in the early/mid evening, and late bars with music.
- Busy nights usually sell out in advance online, but sometimes remaining tickets are available for cash or electronically on the door.
- If you arrive when the doors open or soon after, you will have first choice of seats.
If you are in a group but some of you haven't yet arrived, just tell the seater how many of you there will be.
Arriving close to showtime is fine though seating cannot be guaranteed nor held for later arrivals. - Because it spoils the enjoyment of the majority, heckling is unacceptable, and our comedy nights aren't suitable for stag or hen parties or large single sex groups, due to the annoyance they often create.
Amused Moose shows are audience-friendly comedy nights, featuring non-threatening quality comedians where anyone can feel safe sitting in the front row, even on a first date. Large groups of couples, friends and maybe family too, are always very welcome, and some come back again and again - if we're aware that you're a group, we'll endeavour to seat you all together, even though it's likely that many of the group will arrive separately having bought their own tickets. And if it is someone's birthday, one of your group can smuggle a cake in, and give it to the manager for safekeeping in the kitchen for later.
In July we cherry pick some gems of Fringe shows to previews at Amused Moose to give you a taste of what joys to expect in Edinburgh, and then on the Edinburgh Fringe every August we run the Amused Moose Comedy Award to find the best comedy show on the Fringe by 'undiscovered' talent, and our late night show Afterhours include big name comedians. Amused Moose Comedy really came to prominence when Underbelly commissioned us in to initiate comedy programming for them at the Fringe for the first time, which included the first Fringe shows from Alex Zane and Russell Howard.
Occasionally we produce Amused Moose Comedy shows in London theatres including the Amused Moose Laugh Off final which were the first time that Sarah Millican, Jack Whitehall, Greg Davies, Romesh Ranganathan, Katherine Ryan, Josh Widdicombe, Rhod Gilbert, Seann Walsh and many more, were noticed and started their rise up the comedy ladder.
An associated company, Stand Up And Deliver, runs the highly regarded Absolute & Almost Beginners comedy course led by Logan Murray, and you'll find information about that and the other things we get up to (including both Amused Moose Comedy Awards) by clicking on the index (see left)
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Amused Moose Comedy has a production department which is totally independent so our services to the comedy industry and associated organisations are therefore unclouded by contractual or other obligations, or any need to indulge shareholders or a management board because we purposely don't have those.
Therefore we are uniquely placed to provide unbiased support and consultancy across many aspects of live comedy, sometimes in relation to television or events etc, enhanced by our knowledge and understanding of its workings and knowing thousands of people within the global comedy community, gained by involvement since 'alternative comedy' took off 25+ years ago. We can also find people for your projects, such as standup and sketch directors, and even resolve casting crises, such as sourcing Greg Davis to be W G Grace seated amongst cricket crowds for C4 in 2005.
We are very much still involved at grassroots because of the buzz that comes from literally discovering the best new comedy talent to come through for the next few years. As a result we see far more shiny new comedians who have drive and motivation than anyeone else, long before anyone else, and that - plus the relationship that often develops - is a great bonus.
However at the other end of the scale we have handled every element when producing tours that wrapped at Shepherds Bush Empire for example, co-produce 'changing cast' stand-up shows with some of the main Edinburgh Fringe venues, produce charity shows at the Dominion Theatre and the Groucho Club, as well as directing the Amused Moose Comedy Awards with involvement and encouragement from the comedy industry's great-and-good worldwide.
We are adept, innovative problem solvers, not only in identifying possible solutions, but focussing in on those which can actually be implemented successfully by those who are involved in order to produce the best possible outcomes. The importance of brand and marketing in the widest senses are key, as crucially is the necessity for overall viability plus best possible quality whatever the scale and constraints. Where appropriate we employ strong strategic and project management skills, but always with an eye on how the end result will maximise the potential for strong positive impact, whether we are working with you on a project or are consulting to deliver a viable solution to you.
AMC Productions (London) Ltd is based in Soho, and is headed up by Hils Jago who has a Masters in Marketing, and has delivered projects for non-live comedy organisations such as Metro, Asahi, 4DVD, Wilkinson Sword, 2entertain(BBCWorldwide) and BSkyB for example. In her previous existence Hils worked in crisis management PR, was director of fundraising for a disabled children charity, led award-winning sales teams in recruitment and publishing, and was even head of a Business faculty.
Described variously as the doyenne of British comedy and the grand dame of comedy, it has been noted that 'Hils Jago runs a tight ship' - make of that what you will, but essentially by inference it implies that we aren't luvvies, and are focussed, deliver to a high standard and have that expectation of others too.
Do have a look around www.amusedmoose.com to get a sense of what else we do, although confidentiality (personal and commercial) is important so naturally the most interesting stuff from your perspective won't have been included. However if you want further insight or reassurance, check around about our reputation with those with their fingers on the comedy pulse.
When you could do with our assistance in moving a project forward, whether in practical ways or simply for a brainstorming session or finding the elusive right person, and you have a budget to cover it, email comedy@amusedmoose.com with the briefest outline of the project and what elements you are struggling with, plus how you'd like us to help you.
Rest assured that if we aren't able to assist you ourselves for whatever reason, we won't waste your time/money/patience by saying we can (how annoying when people do that!), but are very likely to know just the person who would suit how you see the project going forward, and importantly within your budget, so can put you in touch.