This is officially the first event I’ve been to in an abandoned primary school.

Self described as “an elegant and filthy comedy night”, I headed along to Mom’s Room, an extremely alternative and experimental comedy show – after seeing my suburban pals in New Malden, for maximum juxtaposition.

It was only en route that I realised it wasn’t a venue, as such, reading the email to double check the address and finding instructions involving a four digit code.

Myself and the other punters figured out our way in via a padlock, a large gate, and a school being protected by Guardians: aka, the closest London has left to a squat, and a perfect place for some art kids to make some magic.

I knew about it because of Mikey Bligh-Smith performing, and one of the hosts was Lil’ Wenker, who had come to do Next Level Sketch at Mikey’s suggestion – and was brilliant.

I do enjoy a concept night, which feels much less indulgent in a comedy rather than prog rock context [1]. Mom’s Room’s is a doozy: each performer picks a short description of the act of someone else on the bill from a hat or equivalent.

They then have ONE MINUTE to prepare, with input from the person they’re apeing, and then unleash the madness.

Then in the second half, the performers do their own act.

This leads to absolute chaos, uncanny accuracy, nonsense, and the surreal sensation of déjà vu beamed in from a parallel universe.

You start to doubt what’s even real, while laughing a lot.

All the performers were brilliant, and I’ll definitely be checking them out in future. Mikey I’ve already talked about too much, as I keep seeing him perform, or booking him to perform, both of which are really easy things to do by accident.

I also especially loved Kathy Maniura’s life model character, caught in that perfect spot between vulnerability and attack, and also Freddie Hayes’ precog take on Kathy’s character.

The hosting was great, Segovia and Wenker bouncing off each other beautifully while marrying the entire audience, and we even got a gorgeous torch song to close out the first half from Cecily Nash.

After it all finished, I met another couple of performers I’d love to have on some time [2]; then there was a Halloween party in the sports hall. I went along for a while, havi by a dance with Lachlan Werner and a lovely lady dressed as One Punch Man, before getting a bit self-conscious about not really knowing anyone (Mikey having already left) and getting a taxi home.

My driver parked in a side street under a concrete underpass, with me running perhaps dangerously across a duel carriageway in the rain to find him. And for the journey back across London I saw many flickering images of a long, strange, and ultimately very moving day.

[1] I told Lil about Factually Inaccurate after the show, which she encouraged me to bring back. Maybe.

[2] The fab Ada Player and the really lovely Ella the Great