Come Dine With Me victor Paul Tonkinson serving up plenty of laughs
Andy Richardson takes a look at star stand-ups, including Paul Tonkinson, who will be raising a smile on Midland stages tonight.
Some of the UK’s best comedians will line up in Birmingham tonight (Friday January 11) during gigs at venues across the city.
Paul Tonkinson, Matt Price, Tobias Persson and Sol Bernstein will headline the Glee Club, with fans in store for a treat.
Tonkinson has enjoyed a long and varied career and highlights have included hosting The Big Breakfast for Channel 4, Sunday Show on BBC2 and Take The Mike on ITV, as well as seminal work on MTV Hot when a mere whippersnapper.
He’s recently appeared on BBC One’s Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and is fresh from a dazzling victory on Channel 4’s hit show Celebrity Come Dine With Me.
On the radio he has hosted the Breakfast Shows on Xfm Manchester and London, and made numerous appearances on BBC Radio 5 live’s Fighting Talk.
Tim Clark, Adam Bloom, Gordon Southern, John Fothergill will line-up at Highlight from 8.30pm.
Tim Clark has one of the most recognisable faces in British comedy and not just because he is tall, pale and completely bald.
As a comedian, he has been working for nearly 20 years honing his craft as a straight stand-up, a much-in-demand compere and a regular corporate host. He is also a successful writer and actor.
Mandy Knight, Cole Parker, Paul Pirie, Curtis Walker will also star at Jongleurs, from 9pm.
Mandy was trained at “Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art”. Although a fully trained classical actress – she decided to initially work in stand-up comedy – mainly because she has a deep fear of ending up in a dodgy fringe theatre.
A free comedy night is also planned at the Brown Lion, in Hockley, called Laughing Lions Club.
Harriet Dyer will line-up at The Spotted Dog on Wednesday, as part of a UK tour.
Dyer studied at the University of Wolverhampton and graduated in 2008. She said: “The main area of study I specialised in was stand-up comedy.
“I’m a stand-up comedian. I currently gig around five times a week up and down the country.
“It took a lot of hard work but it’s finally paid off. When I first started I’d be performing in a room with a random microphone at a pub where the only audience members were a man and his one eyed dog.
“But now I’m performing in professional line-ups to as many as 400 people at a time. Doing what I do is a dream come true.
“Comedy is something I had never considered before I went to the University of Wolverhampton.
“I’d always wanted to be an actor, which I realise now I was just not good enough at.
“I’d always been, ‘the funny one’ in a group of friends but didn’t realise I could make a living from it.
“Stand-up comedy was a module that I had a go at and the staff encouraged me to take it further.”
Tickets are available from the respective venues.