Alternative Cabaret
Encyclopedia
Alternative Cabaret was a collective of politically-motivated performers and musicians. It was set up by Tony Allen
and Alexei Sayle
in the summer of 1979 shortly after they had met at the newly opened London Comedy Store. They quickly recruited comedians Jim Barclay, Andy de la Tour and Pauline Melvile; plus folk duos Chisholm and Stevens and Gasmask and Hopkins, and jazz salsa
band Combo Passe.
Echoing what was already happening in a few fringe theatre
s, most notably the Albany Deptford and the Half Moon Mile End, members were encouraged to open regular club nights under the name Alternative Cabaret in pub function rooms, student union bars and community venues around London. The flagship Alt Cab night was run by Allen and Sayle in the back bar of the Elgin in Ladbroke Grove W11 between Aug 1979 and May 1980. While always an adamant non-member Keith Allen was a regular guest at many Alt Cab club nights. Among other regular guests were Maggie Steed
and Arnold Brown
.
The non-racist, non-sexist, and often radical slant to the material of Alternative Cabaret’s comedians soon became the main attraction and the focus of press interest; as a consequence the phrase Alternative Comedy
became parlance and was employed to describe an emerging approach to comedy entertainment across the London fringe including The Comedy Store where audiences and performers were still often being polarised into opposing Alternative and Traditional camps.
Shortly before he parted company with Alternative Cabaret, Alexei Sayle joined Tony Allen to play the Edinburgh festival in Aug 1980 with Late Night Alternative at the Heriot Watt Theatre. The following year 1981 Allen returned with Andy De La Tour, Jim Barclay and Pauline Melville and Alternative Cabaret at the Assembly Rooms was a noted hit. Highlights of the ensuing national tour were released as an album ‘Alternative Cabaret’ on original records later that year. Having served its purpose, Alternative Cabaret then quietly disbanded and merged into the what was becoming the thriving London Alternative Comedy circuit.
Tony Allen (comedian)
Tony Allen is an English comedian and writer. Best known as one of the original "alternative comedians" Tony Allen's artistic career had taken many radical turns before he temporarily abandoned his Speaker's Corner "Full-Frontal Anarchy Platform" in May 1979 for the stage of London's Comedy Store...
and Alexei Sayle
Alexei Sayle
Alexei David Sayle is a British stand-up comedian, actor and author. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He was voted the 18th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-ups in 2007...
in the summer of 1979 shortly after they had met at the newly opened London Comedy Store. They quickly recruited comedians Jim Barclay, Andy de la Tour and Pauline Melvile; plus folk duos Chisholm and Stevens and Gasmask and Hopkins, and jazz salsa
Salsa (dance)
Salsa is a syncretic dance form with origins in Cuba as the meeting point of Spanish and African cultures.Salsa is normally a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms such as solo dancing "suelta" and "Rueda de Casino" where multiple couples exchange partners in a circle...
band Combo Passe.
Echoing what was already happening in a few fringe theatre
Fringe theatre
Fringe theatre is theatre that is not of the mainstream. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which name comes from Robert Kemp, who described the unofficial companies performing at the same time as the second Edinburgh International Festival as a ‘fringe’, writing: ‘Round the fringe...
s, most notably the Albany Deptford and the Half Moon Mile End, members were encouraged to open regular club nights under the name Alternative Cabaret in pub function rooms, student union bars and community venues around London. The flagship Alt Cab night was run by Allen and Sayle in the back bar of the Elgin in Ladbroke Grove W11 between Aug 1979 and May 1980. While always an adamant non-member Keith Allen was a regular guest at many Alt Cab club nights. Among other regular guests were Maggie Steed
Maggie Steed
Maggie Steed is an English actress and comedienne.-Youth:After studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, she left the theatre for several years.-Career:...
and Arnold Brown
Arnold Brown (comedian)
Arnold Brown is a Scottish comedian, one of the main figures in the alternative comedy scene of the early 1980s. Originally an accountant, Brown worked hard at live standup, until he found a knack of presenting observational comedy in a slow, meandering but entertaining style...
.
The non-racist, non-sexist, and often radical slant to the material of Alternative Cabaret’s comedians soon became the main attraction and the focus of press interest; as a consequence the phrase Alternative Comedy
Alternative comedy
Alternative comedy is a term that originated in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era, and typically avoids relying on a standardised structure of a sequence of jokes with punch lines. Patton Oswalt defines it as "comedy where the...
became parlance and was employed to describe an emerging approach to comedy entertainment across the London fringe including The Comedy Store where audiences and performers were still often being polarised into opposing Alternative and Traditional camps.
Shortly before he parted company with Alternative Cabaret, Alexei Sayle joined Tony Allen to play the Edinburgh festival in Aug 1980 with Late Night Alternative at the Heriot Watt Theatre. The following year 1981 Allen returned with Andy De La Tour, Jim Barclay and Pauline Melville and Alternative Cabaret at the Assembly Rooms was a noted hit. Highlights of the ensuing national tour were released as an album ‘Alternative Cabaret’ on original records later that year. Having served its purpose, Alternative Cabaret then quietly disbanded and merged into the what was becoming the thriving London Alternative Comedy circuit.