Surely the best hidden gem Bristol has to offer…read more Its not often Sam N and I find ourselves in the very centre of Bristol. Historically the haven of neon bars, scantly dressed girls and hot headed lager louts. However, to be fair, the centre has changed somewhat in recent years, and while those places still exist, there are a lot more reasons to visit the centre than to avoid it these days. Smoke and Mirrors lies on Denmark street, a seemingly uninteresting road just beside the hippodrome and the main cluster bars, chicken shops and kebab houses. Its, almost clandestine, location suits it perfectly and it just wouldn't have quite the same amount of charm if it was anywhere else. It labels itself as a theatre pub and I guess thats as a fair description as any. I fell in love with it as soon as I entered. It just feels like a hidden gem immediately, even before you are struck by all the quirkiness that lies within. Quirkiness aside, the place itself is a rather old fashion, small, but quint pub. The whole place is an oxymoron in as much as the very fact that it doesn't try to be 'cool' makes it one of the coolest places I know. Despite its small size there has been live music several times we've been there. Its a very non offensive variety of live music, the kind you can get involved with, enjoy as a backdrop or ignore completely. I feel like there are few places left like this, where you can drink to the backdrop of live music rather than it being so in your face. Last time we were there we had an absolute blast shouting endless requests at the guitarist, who indulged every one of them. He was so good we grabbed a card off him. The bar itself serves all manner of fairly mainstream drinks, it would perhaps be more fitting for it to serve one or two local drinks from the many of the firmly established local breweries bristol has to offer. There is a happy hour on cocktails, my recollection of such times is understandably hazy. They also have a rather tasty array of bar snacks. The scotch eggs and sausage rolls are really rather lovely and basically mean that you never have to leave :) Not surprisingly its a Saturday evening is when its at its peak, and can get rather busy, however it does so without ever feeling too busy, perhaps this is down to the magicians that roam through the crowd blowing everyones minds with various card tricks. Its great fun and never feels over the top. It just adds to the mood, and one of the many compounding factors that make it such a special place in my eyes. There is a small room the back which they use for intimate shows, the dates of which they mix up a bit. It appears that generally Monday it is an open mic comedy night where as Fri and Sat usually hold performances from the house magicians. However they are frequented by special guests so I guess its worth keeping an eye on the events calender. All in all, smoke and mirrors is a great place to go and by far my favorite place in central Bristol.

A plush little cinema with vintage velvet cinema seats plus - and this is either great or dangerous…read more- a licenced bar. They do special cinema nights, such as Ghostbusters on Halloween (genius) and an up-coming David Lynch night. Find out what's on by joining their Facebook group and also influence what films you want to see. They also have a lot of stand up comedy here - it has moved up to four nights a week. I have yet to go to one of these but the line ups are impressive. Let's hope the Jester's crowd don't find out about it.... Recently they also had a Playstation night with Pro Evo competition. Are you getting the idea of the lovely fantastic geeks that own this place are up to yet? Join in and have fun!

This rather ramshackle student orientated comedy club is held occasionaly (term time mainly) in the…read morebasement at Channings Hotel. Local favourite Mark Olver is a nationally known comic who spends most of his time compering (largely student nights) around Bristol, and he runs a new material/try out night here called Oppo Comedy. It's moved about a fair bit but it's now established here, though it's rather small so you need to arrive early to get a seat and a view. In the past I've seen the likes of Richard Herring, Russell Howard and Will Smith for next to nothing, so it's well worth going on Facebook and joining the 'Oppo Comedy' group, as this is pretty much the only way to find out who's up next.

My first time at a Jongleurs and it was funny as hell, would go again and again. we had a set…read moreChinese meal for £8 and there was plenty of it. this you had to pre order though and couldn't get on the night. Because we ordered food we had a table, shared with 2 other people - if we had to stay there for the night our view of the stage would have been severely hindered by a post - but we moved our table out the way and one of the staff members said we could sit in the second row right in front of the stage. Friendly staff and great comedy. The coyote Ugly is a night club and after the comedy you can stay till 1am.

This is Cardiff's best comedy venue with some of the best acts…read more My only bit of advice though is to go when there is somebody you want to see appearing and book in advance. The best way to do this is to sign up for email alerts on their website. I've been twice, once to see Ross Noble which was brilliant and a normal night which I wasn't that impressed with in fact I found the price they were charging for the food and drink a better joke than some of the comedians tried.

Oh I do like a laugh. And where better to go for such shenanigans than to a comedy club. I believe…read moreLee Evan's owns it, but don't quote me on that. The Glee club has been fantastic everytime I've visited. Grade A comedians that cruelly try and split your yours sides do so as you enjoy a lovely dinner (paid separately) and spit your drink out everywhere. There was a host that tried on a punters coat while he was in the toilet, all fine and dandy you would've thought. However the guy who's coat it was went absolutely batty about it and left there and then...Some people clearly don't have a sense of humour, the irony. It is expensive in here though, not alot different if you visited a theatre to be honest. Looking near the £4 a pint mark. Last but now least, after you've wet your self laughing you can attempt to dry yourself off with a boogie as the place turns into a disco for a couple of hours. However, it's generally empty.

I thoroughly enjoyed the club, once inside. However, before we got there, my boyfriend and I bought…read morean online ticket. When we got to the venue, we asked a bearded bouncer which line to queue in if we already had tickets (as there were two lines on either side of the door). To my surprise, the bouncer replied "just get in the line" in an agitated voice. Instead of asking him again, I walked over to the other bouncer at the door and asked him the same question. The second bouncer replied "both lines are the same, it doesn't matter if you have a ticket, don't worry", this was much more helpful and he said it in a much calmer and kinder tone. When the first bouncer heard that we had asked the second bouncer the same question, I couldn't believe my ears when he shouted over to us "I just effing* told you!". When we were inside of the club I thought my troubles with the bouncer were over. However, whilst i was dancing I couldn't help but notice the same bearded bouncer staring at my boyfriend and I (almost giving us a dirty look). When this happened I was honestly scared he was going to kick us out for no apparent reason. Personally, as someone who works in retail, I know that when working with the general public, you must always be kind and understanding when they ask questions (even if they seem "dumb") . This bouncer was neither kind, understanding, or respectful of me and my boyfriend. I know you might think that maybe we were just being stupid drunk idiots, but we were actually completely sober when entering, and spoke to the bouncer in a kind and calm manor. This just goes to show how rude and not empathetic the bouncer was. I also understand that stress can make people overreact, however i do not think it's fair to be rude to customers who just want a simple question answered. If i knew the name of this bouncer I would complain about him to komedia. All i can do is describe him as a white male with dark hair and a dark beard. He was average height and seemed quite muscular. Overall, Komdedia is a lovely place to go as long as you don't run into this bouncer !!!

The newest venue in Bath for comedy, gigs and club nights is sat in the centre of the city on…read moreWestgate Street. This has been a hit with students from the University, desperately looking for a decent club in Bath. The venue itself is on the site of an old cinema, and the architects who have re-opened it have paid careful attention to keeping the original style. Komedia is not quite as retro or attractive as its original designs, but it is fast coming one of the best venues in Bath. The bar is nothing to write home about, but if you get the opportunity to eat here you're in for a treat as it comes straight from Hugh Fernley Whittingstall's River Side Cottage. The type of crowd changed depending on what event is going on, but is mostly made up of young trendy student types. They do get some big names like local man Russell Howard and Reginald D Hunter, so keep an eye on the website for up to date listings.

The first time I heard about bar risa I started to get pretty enthusiastic, the sound of a hot…read morebubbling Jacuzzi sounded pretty damn good, until I actually went there and saw the whole picture. 18 year old girls stripped off running round like idiots while fat old men sat around watching closely, too closely. After this uh, disturbing? Display I went to check out Jongleurs Comedy Club which is right upstairs, unfortunately you needed to have booked tickets but it looked a hell of a lot better than what was going on downstairs.