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Arts Archive


8th November 2011

18th October: Jimeoin, Lovely at The Comedy Store

To be able to start a show successfully with a string of bird walk impressions, including a chicken in a minefield, can only prepare the audience for a good 2 hours of comedy. Jimeoin is not only hilariously funny but also has the most inviting smile and a charming Irish accent. His comedy is not […]
8th November 2011

21st October: Best in Standup

Manchester’s comedy store has been open since 2000 and, like its sister stage in London, is one of the most established venues in comedy. Best in Standup is one of the club’s weekly shows. Compare Ben Norris was relaxed and irreverent, and did the usual crowd warm up banter with ease and fast-paced wit. Opener […]
8th November 2011

20th October: The Best in Stand-up at The Comedy Store

Ben Norris hosted an evening of comedy stylings at The Comedy Store with acts from Paul Tonkinson, Michael Fabbri, Andrew Bird and Phil Nichol. Ben was a great host; his comedy was witty and quick in improvisation with some urban-based Hip Hop. The crowd was suitably drunk and rowdy and dealing with a raucous audience […]
28th October 2011

From past to a present – fabled Al Baker spun us a yarn. WEB EXCLUSIVE

Remember Hulme estate’s torrid to tepid past? Well if you don’t (or you do), read on. Because we couldn’t resist asking the resident lens-witness of those ebbs and flows a few questions on what he remembers from those years – Manchester’s loyal-est photographer Al Baker. October 2011 PC: Where and when did you live in […]
26th October 2011

Home Grown comediennes, Lady Garden

  Described by the Daily Telegraph as ‘Britain’s funniest women’, Lady Garden are five girls who have been working their bums off climbing the ladder to comedy genius status.   Since graduating from our very own University of Manchester back in 2008, they began their journey Edinburgh Fringe and have this year set up their […]
26th October 2011

Manchester’s very own comedy film festival

On 31st October and 1st November Manchester will be playing host to the premier of Cofilmic, the Short Comedy Film Festival. From the mind of Manchester business woman, Janet Harrison, Cofilmic gives aspiring producers, actors, writers, comedians and directors the chance to have their work ogled by the masses and judged by a panel of comedy’s finest. The […]
24th October 2011

Honest to blog

Blogging gets local
19th October 2011

Diffusion: Daksha Patel at Cornerhouse and Piccadilly Station

One artist’s take on the cells of city life
19th October 2011

Everything happened at once – Rashid Rana at Cornerhouse

A comment on East vs. West buried behind a grid-like structure of mirrors

Get involved with Arts

19th October 2011

From Kashmir to Kandy, at the John Rylands Library

A library of our own provided an ironic lack of supporting literature for this complex exhibtion
19th October 2011

Body Positive art show: Vegans go native

Body Positive art show challenges the misrepresentation of body image in today’s society, urging participants to ‘kick crash diets’ where it hurts
19th October 2011

Asia Triennial Manchester 11

is here
18th October 2011

Jimeoin aka Eyebrow Man

Jimeoin aka Eyebrow Man, lovely Irish chap who moved to the sunnier climes of Australia years ago, is coming to the Manchester Comedy Festival 2011 on 18th October and performing at The Comedy Store. At 1pm on 17th October I had a quick chat with him before he scarpered off for more interviews, about stand-up, […]
18th October 2011

Frisky and Mannish

If you haven’t heard of/seen the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Force of comedy-cabaret sauciness, your ears have not lived. On 20th October Frisky and Mannish are making their way to our humble-land (Frisky’s home-town), for the Manchester Comedy Festival and performing at The Lowry. Their production, School of Pop, taught its audiences Tudor history using the […]
18th October 2011

Madchester innit?

For the newbies you may not have seen Manchester in the daylight hours yet: it’s grey drizzly with a splash of colour graffittied to the walls every few metres. Manchester is famously nicknamed the Rainy City, and when you first arrive it’s hard to see anything but the concrete blandness, especially if you’ve moved here […]
11th October 2011

Free for Arts Festival SPECIAL – The price of art

We went on a free art crawl. *Sponsored by Vitamin Water and Kopparberg
11th October 2011

FFAF – Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters pushed its clothes aside and made room for some Art
11th October 2011

Free for Arts – Piccadilly Place

Piccadilly Place was the gritty, concrete, spare home to Free for All (Part 1) and Child’s Play for one colourful week
10th October 2011

You might have mail

Harriot Allsop investigates the latest in interactive throwbacks