Jolly Rogers @ The George Vaults, Rochester

Rochester is a sedate Kent commuter town dominated by its castle and a wealth of antique shops. It also hosts two comedy nights, one of which I was at this evening. Bumping into Maggie Kowalski on the high street and then chatting with the promoters beforehand outside, we saw the great and the good of the town all seemingly coming in for a night of laughs. For a free entry comedy show on a Thursday it was a world away from what you often see in London. No "bring a friend" rule needed tonight.

And so down to the wine cellar basement styled out like a church with a many full rows of people and a stained glass backdrop. A spotlight would have lifted the gloom for the back of the room but otherwise it was pretty much perfect.

Alongside Maggie there were a host of other familiar names on the bill: Ben-Lund Conlon, Kieran Poole and Fiona Ridgewell all put in decent sets to a crowd that largely seemed happy to watch, though with plenty of to-ing and fro-ing at the back where it was standing room only and people were constantly getting drinks and playing musical chairs when one became available.

I was on second, a challenge when doing a twenty minute set, but I took it on with as much energy as I could bring to the warm-ish crowd. Sound problems hobbled the start but it was quickly resolved and people seemed to be happy with the intro track and then Tales of the Unexpected that followed it. Craft Fair got a similarly warm response but Modern Man divided the room as I thought it might - the under 25s enjoying the dubstep vibe, the under 40s looking slightly confused and the over 40s wondering why the music kept slowing down and speeding up. Still, as ever, West End pulled them all back together and I left on a high.

With trains out of Stratford less than 30 minutes from this curious comedy oasis travel time was less than to many places in London from my east end retreat. I look forward to a return trip in the Autumn.