Sketch Comedy

Review: Sketch-Off 2025 Final, Leicester Square Theatre

Despite the crisis in the arts, the UK has a never ending supply of fresh weirdos. Some come straight from their university improv clubs, and some are doing their recovery in public after a year of being brutalised at infamous French clowning school Gaulier. And some are here because their anarchic spirit allows them to… Read more

April 8, 2025

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jamesofwalsh

in

comedy, Diary, London, Morning Star columns, Reviews, Sketch Comedy

review, Sketch Off, Sketch Off 2025, Sketch Off Final
Next Level Sketch at Improv At The Glitch, with Noises From The Attic

No March show for us at Hoopla, as Steve and the lads were overburdened with end of course shows, turning us into travelling sketch comedy rōnin, willing to perform on any stage in exchange for a bowl of rice. Mercifully for our hungry bellies Noises From The Attic, an improv troupe featuring our own Alex… Read more

April 1, 2025

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by

jamesofwalsh

in

comedy, Diary, Improv, Next Level Sketch, Sketch Comedy

comedy, London, Next Level Sketch, Sir Kier Starmer, Sketch Comedy, The Glitch
Next Level Sketch with Camilla Borges, Ali Brice and Rob Duncan

Is there a link between audience size and performance quality? Laughter is a contagion, and logic suggests that a packed room = punters giving themself the permission to let go. And so: a great atmosphere, and performers raising their game accordingly. The answer, after five years of hosting alternative comedy shows, is I’m really not… Read more

February 22, 2025

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by

jamesofwalsh

in

comedy, Diary, Improv, Next Level Sketch, Sketch Comedy

Ali Brice, Camilla Borges, Hoopla Impro, London, Next Level Sketch, Rob Duncan, Sketch Comedy
Next Level Sketch: A Fifth Birthday Celebration Zine

As handed out at our anniversary show – full zine in PDF format below. And remember – our next show is Wednesday 19th February! Read more

February 3, 2025

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by

jamesofwalsh

in

comedy, London, Next Level Sketch, Sketch Comedy
Next Level Sketch’s 5th Birthday Show with Julia Masli, Luke Rollason and Jamie Mykaela

We are five! It was a splendid evening at Hoopla, our first Thursday show and a sold out room to boot. We prepped a greatest hits set – pimped up with Josephine’s wonderfully bizarre sketch about being a sofa in a nightclub toilet, alongside Ben’s pleasing anti-Dyson rant. And I rebooked some of our favourite… Read more

February 3, 2025

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by

jamesofwalsh

in

comedy, Diary, Next Level Sketch, Sketch Comedy

comedy, Hoopla Impro, Jamie Mykaela, Julia Masli, London, Luke Rollason, Next Level Sketch, Sketch Comedy
Next Level Sketch with Lorna Rose Treen, Joz Norris, and Grubby Little Mitts

Our final show of the year was one of our very best, despite the loss of Susan Harrison to “double booking” and a a smaller than expected crowd for such a banging lineup. Fortunately those that did attend were WELL UP for a bit of alternative comedy, and they were repaid for their enthusiasm with… Read more

December 10, 2024

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by

jamesofwalsh

in

comedy, Diary, Next Level Sketch, Sketch Comedy

Grubby Little Mitts, Hoopla Impro, Joz Norris, Lorna Rose Treen, Next Level Sketch
“I realised, this isn’t me – it’s Leslie”: an interview with Simon Topping

For this week’s “interviewing someone doing something cool in Brighton” [2] section of the Indie Brighton Listings, I interviewed Simon Topping, who runs Extra Topping Comedy. I’ve known Simon a while now, and am a massive fan of both his character comedy and his ability to curate an ever-interesting lineup. I caught up with him in… Read more

November 11, 2024

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by

jamesofwalsh

in

Brighton, comedy, Diary, Improv, interviews, journalism, Places, Sketch Comedy

alternative comedy, Brighton, extra topping, Extra Topping Comedy, Leslie Bloom, Simon Topping
This Machine Kills Wasps Halloween Special with The Roebucks, Mark Silcox, Leslie Bloom, Victoria Melody, The Highchurches, and Next Level Sketch

Another lovely night at my quarterly-ish alternative music and comedy night, headlined on this occasion by local blues-rock band The Roebucks, celebrating their recent signing to Goo Records. Everyone was brilliant and lovely, but I made probably one mistake: being in half the acts. Thank god I got the brilliant Leslie Bloom to host, otherwise… Read more

October 25, 2024

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by

jamesofwalsh

in

Brighton, Brighton Folk Choir, Diary, folk, Next Level Sketch, Places, Sketch Comedy, songwriting, The Highchurches, This Machine Kills Wasps

Mark Silcox
Next Level Sketch with Jamie Mykaela, Mikey Bligh-Smith, Michael Brunström and The Mayor and His Daughter

Hello! I did the Treason Show for the first time, and am back in London with some cats. I sometimes find it difficult to sleep after a show, and so after a few aborted attempts at no longer being conscious, I thought I’d write a short post about last week’s Next Level Sketch, which was… Read more

October 5, 2024

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by

jamesofwalsh

in

Diary, Next Level Sketch, Sketch Comedy

comedy, Hoopla Impro, Jamie Mykaela, London, Mikey Bligh-Smith, Next Level Sketch, Sketch Comedy, The Mayor and his Daughter
Next Level Sketch at Bristol Improv Theatre with Up The Antics and The Artist Formerly Known As Banana

I wrote this post yesterday and accidentally hit “discard” before publishing, sending it down the nothingness pipe into the memory hole of forever. So writing about our show again feels very strange – like anything I say here will be a mere shadow of whatever it was I wrote yesterday. And of course, whatever I… Read more

September 4, 2024

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by

jamesofwalsh

in

comedy, Diary, Next Level Sketch, Sketch Comedy

Bristol, Bristol Improv Theatre, comedy, Next Level Sketch, Sketch Comedy, Up The Antics