English Comedy in Barcelona

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It’s about 9.30pm on a Wednesday in June in the basement of El Foro—an Argentinean restaurant in the Born. The air conditioning announces itself pleasantly a few feet from the bottom of the stairs, and suddenly escaping the heavy evening heat for an hour or so doesn’t seem like a bad idea. The refreshing blast, however, is only half the reason the crowd of forty-odd English speakers have gathered around the stage, which stands in the corner of the room. The real goal of the evening is to promote English-language comedy to the entertainment scene in Barcelona. That, and to make them chuckle a bit. This happens on a weekly basis, when the basement of El Foro hosts ‘Just Kidding Barcelona’.

Andy J. Ritchie, an Edinburgh native, is the show’s co-founder and regular host. He attributes his droll, pseudo-miserable delivery to his two most admired stand-up comics, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring. He developed the show, with his Andalusian girlfriend, Isa Lao (also a comedian), to give himself more stage time.

Such blatant self-interest is the order of the day when it comes to starting shows in Barcelona, admitted Daniel Gutierrez, co-founder (with Chris Groves) of ‘S.U.C.K.’, the city’s oldest regular stand-up show. “We met at an international comedy show in Barcelona around 2010 and we wanted to try it ourselves, but since there was no infrastructure or group to help us back then, we started doing our own shows in order to have a place to perform.”

Rachman Blake, a visiting comic and professional pianist from San Francisco, opens the show strong. He riffs on American expectations of European cities, Donald Trump, and the penis-like quality of baguettes, and sets a high standard in 10 minutes with clever observations and gags, unsurprising for anyone who had seen his sets (while in Barcelona, he also performed at ‘Stand Up Comedy Live’ in Craft and in ‘Burn it Down Barcelona’ at XXIII Guitarras). Rachman is a great example of the type of performer that typically makes up the stage time between regularly gigging Barcelona resident comedians: the visiting comedian. The Barcelona stand-up scene relies as heavily upon the city’s robust tourist trade for performers as it does for audience, and it rarely falls short in either instance. Indeed, Guiriness Comedy Barcelona, run by fellow-Celt Zara Patterson, makes its bread and butter exclusively in the import business, flying in professionals from Britain and Ireland on a near-monthly basis to perform longer sets. 

What the regularly scheduled shows can provide, however, which the more intermittent ones cannot, is stage time for newbies. Logically, this has proven to be the most important cog in the developing comedy machine of Barcelona. JKB’s second performer of the evening is first-timer Joanne Torres, who hails from the Dominican Republic and is a regular audience member at comedy nights in the city. She jokes about being practical at a music festival and popping her comedy cherry.

Reflecting on the beginning of his career, Ritchie recalled, “I used to go to shows on a weekly basis and it was clear that a part of me was saying ‘I want to do this and I could do this’.” It’s impossible not to wonder why he chose Barcelona, particularly in Ritchie’s case, given that he is a native of Edinburgh, a globally significant hub of stand-up comedy. The answer is, simply, that this is where he was living when the urge took hold of him. In order to acquire the stage time he desired, he actually laid the foundation stone for the growing scene by starting the city’s first weekly show. “It was necessary if we wanted the comedy scene to expand.”

The concept of a developing ‘scene’ is apparent over the course of the next three performers. From the moment they each step on the stage, Robert Marquez, Sean Ríordáin (a.k.a. Irish Cream) and Joch Díaz come across as performers that have been shaped by audience reaction, the tough love of silence and the tactful craft of performing a joke until it’s no longer funny for the teller and maxed out on funny for he listener. It’s a polish that can only be perfected by those who fall headlong into the kind of vibe Barcelona is beginning to provide for comics trying to find their feet. When interacted with properly, this kind of vibe can be just as fruitful in laughter for an audience member as it can be in experience for a performer. As Ritchie put it, “It’s about having people that are all pulling in the same direction—the goal is not ego but to improve as a comedian.” Between these three, they joke about a miscellany of European penis size, Ramadan vs. Lent and neurosis in coffee bars. They all kill*. 

Comedy Lingo

*to kill’ is comedy lingo for ‘to do well on stage’. Synonyms include ‘to destroy’, ‘to murder’ and ‘to pillage without remorse until only the stonework stands’.

The headlining performer is Amit Kling, an Israeli comic who has flown in to perform, and apparently go to something called Sónar. You can get a taste of his work on YouTube, although it doesn’t quite compare to seeing him in person. He takes a nicely warmed-up room and sets it ablaze, as any good headliner should.

But beyond setting the room ablaze on one particular night, the real work comes in warming up an entire city’s scene. Dave Celestian, a professional comic from Florida who has recently made Barcelona his home, has high hopes for where things are heading. “The future here is exploding. It’s going to be an amazing comedy hub soon. Within a few years tops.” If Dave is to be believed it will be as much about planting bums in seats as comics on stage. 

MORE INFO

Check out the following websites and Facebook pages for details of upcoming shows from the following groups: