A Keswick-based stand up entertainer who has performed across the UK for the past six years has launched a new comedy club to support new acts.
Steph Bradshaw has started promoting the Big Fish Comedy Club and later this year she will be performing for the first time at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a show of the same name.
Since co-hosting a podcast with friend and fellow Cumbrian stand-up Jane Postlethwaite – Miraculous Cumbria – Steph has gone on to perform at the Brighton Fringe, the Women In Comedy Festival and has recently joined forces with Sara Lessman to launch the Big Fish Comedy Club.
After running a couple of nights to help create stage time for herself and fellow fledgling comedians at the Lake District Wine Shop in Keswick, where Steph had been working since it opened in 2023, she was approached by Sara, a US born comedian who recently moved to Penrith, who was looking for comedy nights in the area.
Bonding over the need for stage-time in the area to test new material, Sara and Steph came up with Big Fish Comedy Club, and ran the first night back in January at its spiritual home in Keswick.
“The name Big Fish came from the phrase ‘big fish, small pond’,” said Steph, who is a former Cockermouth School pupil who has lived in Keswick for the past eight years. “This phrase often has negative connotations and has been said in passing to me a few times over the years in reference to my attempts to pursue a comedy career from Cumbria.
“But the nights I have run and performed in Cumbria have always been so energetic and warm, I thought: ‘What’s wrong with feeling like a big fish in a small pond every now and again?’
“If anything, I wanted to offer new up-and-coming comedians the same feeling of getting to try new sets out in front of an engaged, friendly audience.”
The pair are currently planning to run further nights in Kendal and Penrith and will continue their bi-monthly night in Keswick. They have also organised two Edinburgh Fringe showcase events at Rheged in Penrith. Each night will be hosted by the pair and feature three comedians who will be debuting at the festival in 2024.
“I wanted to put on a night for comedians heading up to the festival for their debuts and give them an opportunity to get in front of a Cumbrian audience, given the close distance from Penrith to Edinburgh,” said Steph. “We’re just a stone’s throw away on the train, you could get back and forth in a day to see a few shows and avoid the huge accommodation costs that often put people off visiting.
“At the moment we’re both focused on prepping for the next few shows and then the Edinburgh Fringe, but once we’re back in September we’re hoping to get a new night going in Kendal and are open to hear from local venues who’d be interested in putting on a comedy night for their community.”
Steph has her own Fringe debut this year with her show entitled Big Fish, which is running from July 31 to August 26 at the Gilded Balloon Patter House at 3pm. The show explores the specific teen angst that comes from growing up in a small town while desperately seeking fame and fortune and finding your place in the world as the ‘funny one’. Tickets can be found on the Fringe website: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/stephanie-bradshaw-big-fish
Last year The Keswick Reminder reported how Steph continued to carry on performing after she “absolutely bonked” performing her first comedy gig.
She did not let the lack of laughter from an unenthusiastic audience leave her down-in-the-mouth.
Instead she found the whole experience intoxicating and it helped kick-start a potentially promising career in the brutal world of comedy.
Her first open mic night was above the Fell Bar in Kendal and Steph’s disastrous 10-minute routine was about priority boarding at airports.
The next Big Fish comedy nights are:
- June 26 – Lake District Wine, Keswick, 7.30pm. No tickets required.
- June 28 – Rheged, Penrith at 7.30pm, Edinburgh Fringe showcase.
- July 26 – Rheged, Penrith at 7.30pm, Edinburgh Fringe showcase.
See https://rheged.com for tickets to the Rheged shows.
Follow the Big Fish Comedy Club on Instagram for further updates: @bigfishcomedyclub
