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Steve Archer

A New World Record

I was one of many to break the world record time for reading the entire works of Shakespeare.

It was different. Three o'clock one midsummer evening/morning, after a night out, at student prices, at down town Jongleurs. We all read and took our watch, others got their heads down. Since then it has been all down hill. Life has never been the same. Leicester.2000

Steve originally took to the allure of live stand-up performance and its rhetoric as an Edinburgh Fringe Festival group act called "Clowning Around" in 2000.The group later disbanded. Steve felt the challenge had only started, the job still half done so went solo, booking open mike slots. Maybe this describes Steve best of all. With the bit between his teeth he is tenacious although does find the saddle cumbersome. From there competitions, festivals and countless gigs in and around London, his birth place. Steve is a Londoner and takes it with him where ever he goes. He has a number of amusing takes on travel abroad, accents from home and beyond, one liners and extended stories that touch on death, life and the future all structured around humour. He is able to relate to any crowd up for a laugh and not a semantic witch-hunt.

"There is a way through to everyone. "Trainer: 1982."

A person never bottles out after the first paragraph of a good book. If comedy can be tough at times it also creates a unique opportunity to make more friends and get to know about this witty, bizarre, satirical and sometimes outrageous slice of London life. It is a point often missed. The gigs are like chapters to a book. Steve finds comedy the best challenge he is ever likely to encounter. London is comedy capital.

List of Comedy Clubs performed at.
2000/Workshop with Tony Allen
2000/Melton Mowbray Festival. Charity gig for MIND. Rob Rouse guested.
2000/Edinburgh Fringe Festival: Clowning Around.

2002/5/ Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Solo
2000/2/ Leicester Festival. Solo and hereinafter.
2002: Fez Club Bath. (Wish l had not. A wild goose chase for five minutes.)

2001-6: All over London: Ave 1-3 gigs per week.
Kings Head: A constant. First gig in London. Mad lecturer Hugh Thomas and accompanying pianist, Peter Graham, did for Steve what no other teacher had ever done, namely they were outrageously funny. Hugh, the original Satyr, played woodwind instruments through each nostril. Good for script written comedy too.
Comedy Café: A constant. A running stream of material over five years.
A club loyal to its Wednesdays. Well organised.
Purple Turtle Bar: (An excellent gig but it no longer runs)
Laughing Horse: A vibrant young corporate business engine.
Up-the-Creek: "That's the best l have seen you!" Malcolm Hardy. He then died. The twisted bastard actually meant it this time, that's the point!
Pear Shaped at Fitzrovia: Brian and Krystal, the hosts, have a well established website. A good venue for writers too.
Comedy Store: A constant. King Gong. The Blitz Krig of Comedy. Ruthless enough to put more established comedians off the stage, it has happened. Ruthless enough to haul up hecklers to do a spot. The best gig in town. Alternative's alternative choice. It comprises of acts with five-foot solid oak wooden spoons. The spoons get bigger every time they are gonged off; if they win they sometimes wear a floppy hat but always get a blast of Handel's Messiah from the sound technicians Alex and Will. It is a team push to make the evening work. No audience, no comedians.
Jongleurs: A number of Stand & Deliver competitions. Benevolent advertising on their official website after recordings were made of contestants. Eternally grateful.
Hackney Empire: Marie Lloyd Bar/ Bullion Rooms/The Empire itself is dripping in entertainment history.
Amused Moose: In truth a pocket of London venues with competitions, comedy gigs and courses running throughout the year.

ü Many more clubs to do. Have performed at countless other mushroom clubs, they rise, they fall.

TV Work: YourComedyStars.tv. Your Broadband TV Ltd. Viewer voting interactive. Edinburgh Fringe competition.
Radio Work: Interesting. Some radio presenters do stand-up.
Theatre Appearances: Loads. Am Dram both home and abroad.

Newspaper or Magazine quotes: Billboard bearer. Can be spotted in and around Leicester Sq and Piccadilly. Always in listings. Numerous flyers plus the chalk and slate board feature to pub venues. Steve constantly reinvents the comedy gene. He has also reported on sport in international newspapers plus a steady ripple of homeland school, college, uni newspapers and mags. Keeping fit for comedy is paramount to Steve.