VIDEO: New comedy club launches in Worthing with a sell-out

The Comedy Rooms launches in the heart of the town centre, upstairs in the Guildbourne Centre on March 31 (3WG.co.uk) – with not a ticket left at the 250-seat venue.

Performers on the night will be Brighton's own Paul McCaffrey along with Catherine Bohart with MC Olga Koch and a set from Elaine Fellows.

Adam Scott, owner of 3 Word Group, is the brains behind it all. The launch comes after more than a year and a half of testing the water and discovering that there is most definitely an appetite for comedy in Worthing.

“Basically I started after the lockdown with various comedy shows. At the moment most people have to travel to Brighton to get to comedy venues and then it's a whole night out with paying for parking and for dinner and it just gets very expensive. I wanted to do something which was much more affordable for people so I started inviting TV comedians down to Worthing, bringing them down to the local pubs for a comedy night at around £10. The first one was in August 2021, not long after lockdown.

“We had Esther Manito, and it was a sell-out. That was in The Goose in Worthing and it sold out a couple of weeks before. People just took to it pretty quickly and following that I had a variety of different pubs and bars approaching me to see if I could do more.

“And then I set up a few different venues inviting down comedians that have been on Mock The Week or Live At The Apollo and I've been doing that for two years really. I built up quite a network and I think I've done close to 50 gigs now in a variety of venues.

"But it got to the point where I was managing four or five different venues where the audiences were enjoying it very much but just 50-60 seat venues. I wanted to find a venue which was able to take more, and I was very lucky to find upstairs at the Guildbourne Centre.

“At the moment I've booked the dates all the way through for the last Friday of each month with TV headliners, but I'm also currently talking to agencies about bringing their tours down. I'd love to have four events a month. It would be nice to have a show every weekend. I'm hoping to build up to that point by the end of the year as we get closer to Christmas

“The important thing is to get the right mix of comedians down, somebody that people will recognise but also you want the variety. You don't want three one-liners. You want maybe an observational comedian and a one-liner and somebody who does puns. You want different people on the stage every night, and I always want to have a local comedian as well.”

The key thing is to keep it affordable. Tickets are £15 on the door but are bookable in advance at £12.50. There is also an NHS/Blue Light discount offering £12.50 tickets.