Which comedy figure opened a London nightclub called The Establishment' in 1961?
"The Establishment (club) The Establishment was a London nightclub which opened in October 1961, at 18 Greek Street, Soho and which became known in retrospect for satire although at the time was a venue more commonly booking jazz acts and used for other events. It was founded by Peter Cook and Nicholas Luard, both of whom were also important in the history of the magazine ""Private Eye"". The name ""The Establishment"" is a play on the meaning of ""establishment"" as in ""institution,"" i.e. the club itself, and the broader definition meaning the prevailing social order of the time, which the"
"central London, presenting fellow comedians in a nightclub setting, including American Lenny Bruce. Cook said it was a satirical venue modelled on ""those wonderful Berlin cabarets ... which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the outbreak of the Second World War""; as a members-only venue it was outside the censorship restrictions. The Establishment's regular cabaret performers were Eleanor Bron, John Bird and John Fortune. Cook befriended and supported Australian comedian and actor Barry Humphries, who began his British solo career at the club. Humphries said in his autobiography ""My Life As Me"" that he found"
"his own right in a four-man group satirical stage show, ""Beyond the Fringe"", alongside Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett and Dudley Moore. ""Beyond the Fringe"" became a great success in London after being first performed at the Edinburgh Festival and included Cook impersonating the prime minister, Harold Macmillan. This was one of the first occasions satirical political mimicry had been attempted in live theatre, and it shocked audiences. During one performance, Macmillan was in the theatre and Cook departed from his script and attacked him verbally. In 1961, Cook opened The Establishment, a club at 18 Greek Street in Soho in"
"where performers such as Billy Connolly, Mike Harding and Jasper Carrott started as relatively straight musical acts whose between-song banter developed into complete comedy routines. The 1960s had also seen the satire boom, including the creation of the club, the Establishment, which, amongst other things, gave British audiences their first taste of extreme American stand-up comedy from Lenny Bruce. Victoria Wood launched her stand-up career in the early 1980s, which included observational conversation mixed with comedy songs. Wood was to become one of the country's most successful comedians, in 2001 selling out the Royal Albert Hall for 15 nights in"
"Nicholas Luard Nicholas Lamert Luard (26 June 1937 – 25 May 2004) was a writer and politician, but is perhaps best known for his activities in the early 1960s: co-founding The Establishment with Peter Cook and being one of the Lords Gnome of ""Private Eye"". He was educated at Winchester College and Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he read English and was taught by F. R. Leavis. He met Peter Cook through ""Footlights"". A very short academic career was replaced by club management on the strength of a legacy. He then went into writing. With Chris Brasher, Nigel Hawkins and Denis"
"The Comedy Store (London) The Comedy Store is a comedy club located in Soho, London, England, opened in 1979 by Don Ward and Peter Rosengard. Since 16 January 1925 David Tennant's Gargoyle private members' club had leased the three top floors of 69 Dean Street, Soho, London (at the corner with Meard Street). In 1952 David Tennant sold the Gargoyle as a going concern for £5,000 to caterer John Negus In 1955 the club was sold on to Michael Klinger and Jimmy Jacobs who relaunched it as a strip club called the ""Nell Gwynne"" (variously advertised as a : Theatre,"
"by day and the ""Gargoyle Club"" at night. On 19 May 1979 in the Gargoyle's rooftop club space Hammersmith-born insurance salesman Peter Rosengard started a weekly club-night on Saturdays called the Comedy Store, in partnership with comedian Don Ward. It was modelled on the original in Los Angeles, and invited audiences to show approval or disapproval of the unknown acts performing by ""gonging"" them off. The London Comedy Store made the reputations of many of the UK's upcoming ""alternative comedians"". Among the original lineup here were Alexei Sayle, Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, French & Saunders, Nigel Planer and Peter Richardson"
"Club, or Revue). A 1960s ad shows the club as the ""Nell Gwynne"" by day and the ""Gargoyle Club"" at night. In 1978, Peter Rosengard was on holiday with his then-wife Shirley in Los Angeles. ""We had nothing to do one night, so I asked the concierge and he recommended the Comedy Store. At the time there was no live comedy in the UK, apart from working men's clubs up north, which was not really my scene. I loved what I saw in LA, so decided to open one in London, despite everybody telling me I was nuts."" In 1979,"
"marker for the emerging comedy scene with its Sedition 81, a cabaret which executed the Monarchy, leading trade unionist amongst others, Roland gave a joint to the audience as a rebate from the state anticipating the arts cuts that the Tories planned in 1982, CAST created the New Variety circuit in London promoting a new wave of alternative comedy. Which went on to receive support from the Greater London Council, enabling it to run eight venues throughout London and establish the first modern comedy circuit? With performers such as Paul Merton the Joeys, Harry Enfield, Jo Brand Julian Clary and"
"Budd Friedman Budd M. Friedman (born as Gerson M. Friedman on June 6, 1932 in Los Angeles, California) is best known as the founder and original proprietor and MC of the Improvisation Comedy Club, which opened in 1963, on West 44th Street near the SE corner of 9th Avenue, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. He was instrumental in launching the comedy careers of Rodney Dangerfield, Richard Lewis, Robert Klein, Jay Leno, Andy Kaufman, Freddie Prinze, Steve Landesberg, Jimmie Walker, and for a brief time, managed Bette Midler at the early stages of her career. It was with Friedman's"
"while he was still recuperating in the hospital. Budd Friedman Budd M. Friedman (born as Gerson M. Friedman on June 6, 1932 in Los Angeles, California) is best known as the founder and original proprietor and MC of the Improvisation Comedy Club, which opened in 1963, on West 44th Street near the SE corner of 9th Avenue, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. He was instrumental in launching the comedy careers of Rodney Dangerfield, Richard Lewis, Robert Klein, Jay Leno, Andy Kaufman, Freddie Prinze, Steve Landesberg, Jimmie Walker, and for a brief time, managed Bette Midler at the early"
"The Stand Comedy Club The Stand Comedy Club are three stand-up comedy venues in the cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle upon Tyne. The Stand hosted its first regular club night on Thursday 21 September 1995: seven people came and the total box office was £22. The Stand Comedy Club has three venues in the UK, two in Edinburgh and Glasgow, which were originally set up by owners Tommy Sheppard and Jane Mackay. The Edinburgh venue was established in 1995, in the small basement of WJ Christie's Bar in the city’s Old Town, and the Glasgow venue was opened in"
"was also a venue at the Merrion Centre in Leeds which opened in November 2003 but closed in June 2004. The Comedy Store (London) The Comedy Store is a comedy club located in Soho, London, England, opened in 1979 by Don Ward and Peter Rosengard. Since 16 January 1925 David Tennant's Gargoyle private members' club had leased the three top floors of 69 Dean Street, Soho, London (at the corner with Meard Street). In 1952 David Tennant sold the Gargoyle as a going concern for £5,000 to caterer John Negus In 1955 the club was sold on to Michael Klinger"
"The Establishment, where he became a friend of and was photographed by leading photographer Lewis Morley, whose studio was located above the club. He contributed to the satirical magazine ""Private Eye"", of which Cook was publisher, his best-known work being the cartoon strip ""The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie"". The bawdy cartoon satire of the worst aspects of Australians abroad was written by Humphries and drawn by New Zealand born cartoonist Nicholas Garland. The book version of the comic strip, published in the late '60s, was for some time banned in Australia. Humphries appeared in numerous West End stage productions"
"The Glee Club The Glee Club is a chain of independent live stand-up comedy and live music venues in the UK. The first Glee Club was opened by Mark Tughan in Birmingham's Chinese Quarter in 1994, the first dedicated comedy club to open in the United Kingdom outside London. A second branch opened in Cardiff in 2001 and is located in the Mermaid Quay development in Cardiff Bay. It has a seated capacity of 440 and a standing capacity of 600. ITV Wales broadcast a series of eight stand up shows from the venue in 2006. The Cardiff venue has"
"Cook's lack of interest in art and literature off-putting. Dudley Moore's jazz trio played in the basement of the club during the early 1960s. In 1962, the BBC commissioned a pilot for a television series of satirical sketches based on the Establishment Club, but it was not immediately picked up and Cook went to New York City for a year to perform ""Beyond The Fringe"" on Broadway. When he returned, the pilot had been refashioned as ""That Was the Week That Was"" and had made a star of David Frost, something Cook resented. The 1960s satire boom was coming to"
"Rory Blackwell Rory Blackwell (born 22 June 1933 in Battersea, London) is a British former rock and roll musician, bandleader of The Blackjacks, singer, drummer and songwriter. Blackwell founded the first British rock and roll band, and put on rock and roll at Studio 51 in September 1956, and at The 2i's Coffee Bar and on 24 January 1957 gave his very first job to Terry Dene, then Terry Williams, fronting him at the Razzle Dazzle Club billed as ""the new singing sensation Terry Williams"". Rory and his Blackjacks starred in the 1957 film ""Rock You Sinners"". In 1959, Blackwell"
"The Scene (performance venue) The Scene was a nightclub on West 46th Street, Manhattan, New York City operated by Steve Paul between 1964 and 1970. It was notable for historic performances by The Doors and Jimi Hendrix, among many others. The Scene, also known as ""Steve Paul's The Scene"", was located in the basement of 301 West 46th Street, in New York's Theater District. Steve Paul had started his entertainment career as a publicist for the Peppermint Lounge. Paul opened the club in 1964, initially as a club for actors, musicians and theatre workers from Broadway. At the time, the"
"opened by Joseph Finocchio and was on Stockton Street. International Settlement's club acts, with their can-can dancers and old-fashioned chorus girls, were unable to compete with the incredible talent and excitement of the emerging Broadway scene, and by the early 1960s their popularity had fallen below a critical level. But despite the brilliance and innovation of Broadway's entertainment scene of the 1950s and 1960s, its live entertainment clubs would also lose their popularity with time. As of the first decade in the 21st century, Broadway had lost its standup comedy clubs and its live music clubs, only to be replaced"
"The Boarding House (nightclub) The Boarding House was a music and comedy nightclub located at 960 Bush Street in San Francisco, California, opened by David Allen in 1971. Robin Williams launched his career there and Steve Martin's first three albums, ""Let's Get Small"", ""A Wild and Crazy Guy"", and ""Comedy Is Not Pretty"" were recorded there, in whole or in part. The club was also host to a multitude of musical acts, such as Dolly Parton, Patti Smith, Neil Young, Bette Midler, Billy Joel, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Mason Williams, The Tubes, Talking Heads, Old & In the Way,"
"Arts would drop by and sit in. In 1979, Elk brought shortform to England, teaching workshops at Jacksons Lane Theatre, and he was the first American to perform at The Comedy Store, London, above a Soho strip club. Modern political improvisation's roots include Jerzy Grotowski's work in Poland during the late 1950s and early 1960s, Peter Brook's ""happenings"" in England during the late 1960s, Augusto Boal's ""Forum Theatre"" in South America in the early 1970s, and San Francisco's The Diggers' work in the 1960s. Some of this work led to pure improvisational performance styles, while others simply added to the"
"in 1959 and led to a job at the BBC upon his return to the UK. His theme music from ""When the Boat Comes In"" reached the UK pop charts. He was a long-time friend and collaborator of the playwright and actor Henry Livings with whom he starred in a 1971 comedy sketch series for BBC2 ""Get The Drift"", based on their stage show, The Northern Drift. This included a version of ""As Soon as This Pub Closes (The Revolution Starts)"". In 1980, he appeared with Livings at the Perth Festival in Western Australia in The Northern Drift. Glasgow emigrated"
"Stand Up NY Stand Up NY is a comedy club located in Manhattan’s Upper West Side on 236 West 78th street. Founded in 1986, the club is one of New York City’s oldest, always featuring diverse lineups of well-known and local comedians. Comedians Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jon Stewart began their stand-up careers here. Past performers at Stand-Up New York include: Louis C.K., Susie Essman, Mike Birbiglia, Lewis Black, Judah Friedlander, John Oliver, Jay Oakerson, Hannibal Buress, Godfrey, Dave Attell, Anthony Jeselnik, Aziz Ansari, and Amy Schumer. Originally owned by then television writer and producer, now Broadway performer Cary"
"Esmeralda's Barn Esmeralda's Barn was a nightclub in Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London, that was owned by the Kray twins from 1960 until its closure in 1963. The Krays used the club as a way of expanding their criminal activities into London's West End. In the 1950s, Esmeralda's Barn was a conventional nightclub run by Stefan de Faye. After the Betting and Gaming Act 1960 legalised gambling in the United Kingdom from 1961, de Faye turned Esmeralda's Barn into a gambling club. According to John Pearson, the Act, which was intended to drive criminals out of gambling, instead proved a boon"
"Annabel's Annabel's is a London nightclub, located at 44 Berkeley Square, London. It was founded by entrepreneur Mark Birley and named after Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart, then his wife. Annabel's was founded in 1963, after Birley's friend John Aspinall decided that they needed somewhere to party after an evening's gambling. As a result, Birley turned the basement of Aspinall's casino, the Clermont Club, into a nightclub, and named it after his then wife, Annabel, who went on to marry Birley's friend, Sir James Goldsmith. Birley later blocked off the private staircase linking the Clermont above. Annabel's is a members-only nightclub and"
"his whole family to London. There he opened Stringfellows Covent Garden. It was an immediate success as a night club in London, where celebrities, international film stars, TV personalities, rock stars, models, paparazzi and national newspaper journalists partied for the next 15 years. In 1983, he took over the old cabaret club, Talk of the Town, which had closed. He re-opened it with its original name Hippodrome and it became the ""World's Greatest Disco"". The Hippodrome introduced its first gay night at the venue under his management. He also started Hippodrome Records and one of his acts to sign was"
"monthly comedy nights in the studio of Edinburgh Festival Theatre. Gilded Balloon founder, Karen Koren, started promoting comedy at McNally's, a restaurant and club based in a townhouse at 6 Palmerston Place, near Haymarket Station, which opened in February 1985. The owner had intended to open a casino upstairs, but it was rejected for a licence. Koren, who was working there alongside other part-time jobs, including working for the Norwegian Consulate, was well-connected to people involved with the Comedy Store and had been observing the growth of comedy during the Edinburgh Fringe each year. Instead of the intended casino, she"
"shows in London, most of which he subsequently toured internationally. Although he eventually gained worldwide popularity, he encountered stiff resistance in the early years of his career: his first London one-man show, ""A Nice Night's Entertainment"" (1962), received scathing reviews, and it was several years before he made a second attempt. He gained considerable notoriety with his next one-man revue, ""Just a Show"", staged at London's Fortune Theatre in 1969. It polarised the critics but was a hit with audiences and became the basis of a growing cult following in the UK. He built on this with his early '70s"
"opportunity to add the attraction of a casino to the nightclub. A Playboy Club was opened in the heart of the capital, at 45 Park Lane overlooking Hyde Park, on July 1, 1966 and was an immediate success. It was nicknamed the ""Hutch on the Park."" ""UK One"", as Lownes became known, slid easily into the feverish atmosphere of ""Swinging London"". Regular parties were thrown at his house; attendees included such London Playboy Club habitués as The Beatles, George Best, Warren Beatty, Michael Caine, Judy Garland, Sean Connery, Terry Southern, Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate. In 1967, Lownes moved to"
"Tony Allen (comedian) Tony Allen (born 4 March 1945) 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 Speakers' Corner ""Full-Frontal Anarchy Platform"" in May 1979 for the stage of London's Comedy Store. Two months later he founded Alternative Cabaret with Alexei Sayle and ran a regular ""Alt Cab"" Club night in the back bar of the Elgin pub on Ladbroke Grove. In 1973 he was co-founder with John Miles of Rough Theatre and co-wrote and performed in all five"
"leased the Doric Ballroom in Soho; opening his private members club, the Raymond Revuebar in 1958. This was the first of the private striptease members' clubs in Britain. Changes in the law in the 1960s, brought about a boom of strip clubs in Soho with 'fully nude' dancing and audience participation. Pubs were also used as venues, most particularly in the East End, with a concentration of such venues in the district of Shoreditch. This pub striptease seems mainly to have evolved from topless go-go dancing. Though often a target of local authority harassment, some of these pubs survive to"
"January 2009, the Soho Revue Bar closed, reopening in February 2011 as The Box Soho, billed as ""A theatre of varieties"", under the ownership of Simon Hammerstein. The Raymond Revuebar was the creation of property magnate and magazine publisher Paul Raymond. The theatre was formerly the Doric Ballroom. When it opened on 21 April 1958 it offered traditional burlesque-style entertainment, which included strip tease, and was popular with leading entertainment figures of the day. The Revuebar was one of the few legal venues in London to show full frontal nudity; by turning itself into a members only club it was"
"introduction to ""Annabel"", she wrote: Lady Annabel Goldsmith Lady Annabel Goldsmith (""née"" Vane-Tempest-Stewart, formerly Birley; born 11 June 1934) is an English socialite and the eponym for a celebrated London nightclub of the late 20th century, Annabel's. She was first married for two decades to entrepreneur Mark Birley, the creator of Annabel's, which she helped make a glamorous success as her husband's inaugural members-only Mayfair club. Known in London as a society hostess, during the 1960s and the 1970s, she gained notoriety in gossip columns for her extramarital affair with Anglo-French financier Sir James Goldsmith, who later became her second"