Roger Osborne reports on a riotous month in prospect at Whitby

This month your roving High Tide reporter called in to the Port Hole on Skinner Street in Whitby, centre of the global Musicport organisation, in search of musical and spiritual enlightenment. Instead I ended up sharing a sofa and a chat with the fabulously named Neil Jollie, organiser of July’s comedy extravaganza at Whitby Coliseum.

Neil hails from Darlington, where he runs the Hilarity Bites Comedy Club (strapline: More Ha Ha For Your Honk). He is a big fan of comedy and had been going up to Edinburgh for many years when he hit on the idea of booking comedians himself. ‘A friend in Darlington books bands into his venue; he said, if you book the comics, I’ll put them on, and we never looked back.

Neil has expanded to other venues in the North East, and has booked established and rising comedians from across the country. He’s proud of getting people started through their New Acts awards, and putting them on the road to a professional career.

Jim McLaughlin of Musicport had known about Hilarity Bites for a couple of years, and saw an opportunity. ‘July looked a bit quiet in Whitby this year; we’ve just finished a music season, and the festivals start in August, so comedy seemed like a good idea.’ Neil agrees: ‘Lots of comedians are on their way up to Edinburgh at this time, so we’ve been able to book really good acts.

Neil and Jim see the intimate Coliseum at Whitby as the perfect venue and decided on an intense month of comedy, with the option of doing more later. The season will run on four successive Saturday nights, starting on 4 July. Each night has a collection of comedians and a different compere each night. There’s good variety, from the droll Alun Cochrane to the magician act of Pete Firman, from the musical mayhem of Duncan Oakley to the brilliant wit of John Gordillo. Buy in advance and you can get the whole lot for £20; that’s a serious bargain.

Full details: www.whitbymusicport.com or www.hilaritybites.co.uk