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At the end of April, we were kindly invited to review Park Theatre’s Comedy Club 4 Kids show. Park Theatre is based in Finsbury Park and was so easy to get to by train from Hitchin. We decided to make a day of it in London, so we got a travelcard, which you can get a Groupsave discount on when travelling as a family/group of adults. It only takes around 25 minutes to get to Finsbury Park from Hitchin, and Park Theatre is just a 5 minute walk from the station, so it’s really easy to get to! 
Since 2005, Comedy Club 4 Kids has been getting the best stand-ups, sketch acts and cabaret stars from the international circuit to do their thing for an audience of children (aged 6+) and their families… but without the rude bits! The show is family-friendly, but without any patronising idiocy. In fact, it's just like a normal comedy club, but it's on in the day, kids are allowed in, and thus there is a higher than usual chance of the entire audience claiming to be called Bob.
Our 7 year old was so excited when he found out we were going- a little comedian in the making, we are bombarded with jokes from him all day long, many of which he makes up himself (some good, some, er, not so good). The show is aimed at 6 year olds+, but we took a chance on taking our nearly-4 year old too as we were planning on going out for the day. Aside from being a bit tired and grumpy (guess who was up super early ahead of a big day out?), he really enjoyed it as his sole aim in life is to be just like his big brother, so he laughed along and loved the buzz of the theatre.
When we arrived, we waited in the bar area where you could buy drinks and snacks, before we were shown in to take our seats alongside the stage.
Speaking of pre-show, if you’re looking to get some food before the show, the Theatre has Park Pizza - the stunning playhouse turned pizza powerhouse, serving wine, beer, spirits and snacks from independent suppliers. What’s more, every penny spent on pizza, supports the theatre and the community.
There’s not a bad seat in the house, as it’s a lovely intimate theatre where you’re really close to the stage- there is some upper floor seating, but most of the audience is on ground level with the stage, on tiered seating.
The acts for the Comedy 4 Kids Club change each month- with a mix of those who specialise in children’s comedy and those who have adapted their adult shows for children, so you get a real mix.
Kicking off the show was the compere, who was brilliant at getting the kids excited, engaging with them, whilst also entertaining the adults. The children loved being asked to share their own jokes as he went round the audience with his microphone- it was almost more entertaining when their joke made absolutely no sense, as his reaction then had everyone (including the joke-teller!) in stitches. The jokes became more and more random, as the kids loved getting involved.
It’s worth pointing out that there will be likely be jokes about bums and farts, and our 7 year old was particularly entertained by chants of “all babies are idiots!”. If you’re easily offended, this isn’t the show for you, but if you’re up for a laugh with your kids and able to explain that some of the jokes probably are best not repeated at school or to grandparents, then you’ll have a great time. Although saying that, there were many grandparents in the audience having a great time!
He also set about finding out who was the oldest and youngest member of the audience, so that they could be in charge of reigning things in if they got too silly or not silly enough (the latter being for the youngest member of the audience, of course).
Now it was time for our first act – Lachlan Werner. Award-Winning ventriloquist, physical comedian and ‘winningly silly’ (Chortle) clown, Lachlan Werner, has been in a double-act with a small squishy witch called Brew since he was an actual child. Our kids had never seen a ventriloquist, so were fascinated, and loved Brew’s loud, funny character, while Lachlan played the shy partner in this hilarious double act.
After each act, the compere would come back out again to allow the kids to tell more jokes on his microphone, which they really loved! Our 7 year old got his turn and had a round of applause, which really made his day!
Next up was Susan Harrison, who appeared dressed as a giant mobile phone, and reminded us all of the good old days of ring tones and phone vibrations! Whilst the adults enjoyed the comedy nostalgia of Nokia 3310’s, the kids found her constant shaking and buzzing hilarious.
Our final act, comedy double-act Ruby and Rachel, aka ‘Shelf’ bounded on to the stage with an energy and enthusiasm that enthralled every child, and made every parent wonder what happened to their own energy! Shelf are a sketch act from South London, who specialise in fun and silly sketches that had the kids in stitches. Having performed at various festivals and won many awards, including UK’s Best Kid’s Comedy Show, they whipped the kids in to a frenzy with their funny physical comedy sketches- even running through the audience at times, which the kids loved.
The compere ended the show with more engagement with the audience and some jokes, before the show came to an end.
The show ran for around an hour a quarter, with everyone fully entertained throughout- which is no mean feat with kids, especially so close to lunchtime! Comedy Club 4 Kids is a great opportunity to enjoy a comedy show with your kids, and we would definitely go again.
And the 7 year old’s review when I asked him?
“It was absolutely hilarious – 10 out of 10!”
You can’t say better than that from a 7 year old, right?
Park Theatre runs their Comedy Club 4 Kids Show monthly, with the next show on Sunday May 26th (details here.)
You can find a full round-up of the show's acts here. If you’re in to your comedy, you’ll definitely recognise some famous faces!
You can see a full run-down of What’s On at Park Theatre on their website, including Mr Sleepybum - a multi-award-nominated, one-man, character comedy kids show, written and performed by character comedian Jody Kamali. Mr Sleepybum performed a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023 and received rave reviews from the press and audiences. It’s running during half term from Tues May 28th 2024 – Sun June 2nd 2024. Find more details here.
Our tickets were kindly gifted by Park Theatre for us to review this show.
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