Espanol Comedy at The Castle

As nights go this was pretty unusual. Last month a Columbian musician who I'd worked with in the past contacted me about co-promoting a Hispanic comedy night to accommodate a headline spot for his friend coming over to the UK for a week. Being the kind of person who likes a challenge I set about finding comedians who were prepared to perform in Spanish or at least prepare something along that theme.

Come this evening, the line-up was certainly diverse but the quality was more than consistent. Musician Juan opened with his first ever five minutes and did well for someone who decided MCing his own gig would be a good way to launch his comedy career. From there we went to me and a three song set which went down really well with plenty of shouting, clapping a "ch ch ch'-ing. After that Katie Lane did fifteen in Spanish based on the time she spent living in the country at one point. The audience loved her.

After a short break we resumed with Matt Giffen doing his first ever set in Spanish, Ariane Sherine singing songs specifically written for the night and Sonia Aste doing a flamenco character. All went down really well and the crowd were well up for headliner Juan who put in a storming forty minutes. Twice what was planned but with no real curfew in force and a crowd who laughed continuously - no bad thing at all.

Chances are they'll be more of these nights. Advance ticket sales were impressive and this is a niche that is clearly looking for a home. Even if I don't understand a word being said on stage...